Regresso (Return)
by Jorge Barbosa
Ship where are you going
lying on the sea?
Where are you going
carried by the wind?
What course is yours
ship of the broad sea?
That country perhaps
where life
is a great promise
and a great fascination!
Take me with you
ship.
But bring me back!
- Barbosa reflects on the continual invitation to escape that the sea offers to those in Cape Verde, while his situation and passion for the land forces him to stay.
- Although he wishes to be free, he feels compelled to eventually return- a need to be in Cape Verde.
- Having hardly left the islands, Cape Verdeans believe in hope and promise in other lands, but remain in allegiance to their homeland's beauty and majestic feel.
Jorge Barbosa:
- (25 May 1902- 6 January 1971)
- He was a Portuguese dialectologist and Cape Verdean poet/writer.
- He contributed to many Portuguese and Cape Verdean journals.
- He helped mark the beginning of Cape Verdean poetry with the publication of his poetry compilation Arquipelago (1935).
- He was one of the three founders of the literary journal Claridade ("Clarity") in 1936- this which distinguished the start of modern Cape Verdean literature.
Themes of Barbosa's Poetry:
- Flight- wanderlust, departing/staying, & narrow-mindedness
- Concerned less with leaving and more with "having" to stay- yet still affectionate for his homeland
- Believed in the existence of the common folk
- Escapism and hope
- Cape Verdeanness- sense of regionalism
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