Free a poem!

To commemorate the 500th anniversary of Camões' birth and World Poetry Day, the Dr. Santos Bessa Primary and Secondary School was adorned with a bust of the poet himself, created as part of the Technological Education subject, along with a cage—not for birds, but for poems. Just as Camões opened himself to the world, so too was this cage opened by all those who wished to be touched by the beauty of Camões' poetry and read one of his poems right there, next to the poet's bust.

Since we lack the words to describe Camões' genius, let us entrust that task to someone who has done it so well:

CAMÕES

I have no verses, boundless cedar,

From the small Portuguese forest!

I don't even have verses to write, I'm so moved.

I stand there gazing at such grandeur from afar. 

Who can sing to you, after the Song

What have you given to your country, which does not deserve it?

The sun of inspiration that I light and raise,

It comes down to your feet and it seems to cool down.

Calling you a genius is fair, but it's an understatement.

To call you a hero is to grant you only one power.

Poet of an empire that was mad,

You were crazy to sing and crazy to fight.

Let this respect, then, serve as a poem.

What I owe you and profess,

The only ship of the unfulfilled dream

There was no going back!

Miguel Torga

In Iberian poems, 1965.

Professor Marta Paiva