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Durcan
Paul Durcan
b.1944

"Fernando's Wheelbarrows, Copacabana"
(From "Greetings To Our Friends In Brazil" – 1999)

FERNANDO'S WHEELBARROWS, COPACABANA
are at Rue Vinicius de Moraes 208
at the Ipanema end of Copacabana

Akimbo in a wheelbarrow in Copacabana
I am a gringo sober as a judge –
Grey-souled as my father who was a judge.
I am waiting for Fernando
To wheel me up and down the beach.
Fernando does not speak a word of English
Nor I of Portugese.
Fernando's forbears were slaves from Senegal.
Fernando is a free man, proudest of the proud.

Because Fernando believes that good manners
Are the highest grade of ethical behaviour –
That is an article of faith with Fernando –
I have requested that Fernando
Be my guide in Copacabana:
My guide, my governor, my master.

Every morning at seven o'clock after Mass
Fernando wheels me up and down the beach
At Copacabana in the silence of the dead;
Fernando is the silentest man in Copacabana
Just as I am the silentest man in Dublin.
Our climaxes are meeting and parting.
I rejoice in the remote way Fernando shakes my hand.
I rejoice in the comatose stars of Fernando's eyes.
I rejoice in the reticence of Fernando's laughter.

The only time Fernando breaks his silence
Is at the midpoint of our giro;
Fernando reveals to me his dream
Of emigrating to Phoenix, Arizona.
Fernando has a young wife and children.
He explains by means of his hands
And by two words – Phoenix, Arizona.
His hands with rhetorical ebullience exhort:
Phoenix, Arizona is the good life!

© Paul Durcan
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