AT THE EDGE OF THE STREET (À BEIRA DA RUA), a poem by Sonja N. Bohm

Speak to me in a language

not your own.

Hold me in the moonlight

at the edge of the street

without a care

for the man at the window.

Promise me the sun,

not another farewell.

Richmond, VA

17 March 2025

Photo taken in Belém, Portugal on 16 November 2019. Copyright © by Sonja N. Bohm

"At the Edge of the Street" (À Beira da Rua) Copyright © 2025 by Sonja N. Bohm. All rights reserved. First published in Pobre Ícaro (Poor Icarus): Bilingual Poems in Portuguese and English (2025).

SEPTEMBER (SETEMBRO), a poem by Sonja N. Bohm

Will it always be September—

the month of unspeakable longing?

That space between bank and boat,

the vast and impassable moat,

says yes.

But the birds sing—

they sing from birth,

and discover they have wings.

Across that divide, they fly.

They say no—

September will not last;—

only what is in the heart.

So that which only seems,

gives way to dreams,

and says, “Perhaps!”

Photo taken at Praia das Avencas (Avencas Beach) in Parede, Portugal on 7 September 2019. Copyright © by Sonja N. Bohm

"September" ("Setembro") Copyright © 2025 by Sonja N. Bohm. All rights reserved. First published in Pobre Ícaro (Poor Icarus): Bilingual Poems in Portuguese and English (2025).

IGNIS FATUUS (FOGO FÁTUO), a poem by Sonja N. Bohm

Tell me I will never return—

that my hands will remain empty;

never more will I look upon the waters—

that my hope was in vain,

my joy an illusion...

Tell me I will never return.

Parede, Portugal

27 November 2019

Photo of a statue in the garden representing Portuguese poet Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen at Parque dos Poetas in Oeiras, Portugal on 30 June 2019. Copyright © by Sonja N. Bohm

IGNIS FATUUS (FOGO FÁTUO) Copyright © 2021 by Sonja N. Bohm. All rights reserved. First published in Poemas do Jardim (Poems from the Garden): Bilingual Poems in Portuguese and English (2021). Image is computer generated.

HOPE, MY JOY (ESPERANÇA, A MINHA ALEGRIA), a poem by Sonja N. Bohm

With every breath

that lacked joy,

I gathered memories

like wildflowers,

and formed a wreath

to adorn my head.

Parede, Portugal

2 July 2019

Computer-generated image, 2025.

"Hope, My Joy" ("Esperança, a Minha Alegria") Copyright © 2021 by Sonja N. Bohm. All rights reserved. First published in Poemas do Jardim (Poems from the Garden): Bilingual Poems in Portuguese and English (2021).