1. THE SERPENT AND THE FIRE

"There are also others who live most of
The time by the sea and rivers,
And they are called Baetatá, which means 'fire thing'.
There is nothing but a sparkling
Beam running from here to there
It affects the Indians quickly and kills them."
Father José de Anchieta, Letter of São Vicente (1560)

No!
Your eyes and skin are now of clay,
Pale and cold as the blades
Of those who carved on your face,
Our lands, our hearts, and drained
Life from our veins.
They’ve brought us their shadows and the pain.

This sacrifice is for you,
Dark Father, great master of the world I do not see,
The carcass is a gift that,
With guilt,
I now lay on this altar against the cruelty
Of the men who took her away,
Defiled her spirit and poisoned my lips,
And, to avenge all
She suffered and bled at their hands,
I invoked you, Jurupari.

Rise from where the mysterious waters,
Like darkness and light, disagree
To slaughter your preys, ancient serpent of fire,
Tatatendi-Sucuri.

Untamed and hungry like the southern
Wind that bends the trees,
And snarling as wild thunderstorms,
The laughter of Tupã and Amanaci,
The serpent licked and blazed
The tainted ground to make them bleed.
They prayed. But their fate belonged to me.
When the smoke lined red the bewitching stars,
Their desperate screams
Tried to reach the skies but the
Forest intervened and smirked.

Though they fought to stop the beast,
Its eerie strength was as if unreal,
Against the fiery scaled skin,
Their shining blades had lost their will.
Baetatá’s ten thousand eyes of ember,
Ghosts glowing in the night,
Like burning nails piercing their flesh,
In Death’s embrace, collected their sight.
Their disfigured and quartered bodies
Squirmed and flooded the narrow streets,
Mystical flames engulfed their souls reflecting on those crimson creeks.

And hatred drowned in grief.

The beast was gone from the scorched
Glade when the smoke started to dissolve
But I glimpsed, in the woods,
Breaking through the murk,
Its mesmerising glow.
I, too, turned my back at the gory scene,
Eyes and thoughts were lost away,
Climbing down the hill,
My mind was hers as I walked towards the bay.
Whispering leaves rustled
My doom until I reached the sand,
When the air stopped and the Moon cried light.
Black waters embraced my end.

As eternal night descends,
My eyes of clay find yours again.


2. BLOOD ON THE FOREST ALTAR

Blood on the Forest Altar

"It is a known thing and through everyone's
Mouth there is something in these forests
Certain demons that the Brazilians call Curupira. "
Father José de Anchieta, Letter of São Vicente (1560)

When the full Moon shone through your branches
In that Night She’d blown out the stars
Your shadow, cast on my spirit,
Torn my veins, depraving my heart
No cloud would veil Her power
No thunder cracked open the sky
Waters, like black oil, glowered
Now, like you, I ignite

Dreadful screams carried by the winds
Torture my ears, eyes drown in tears.
Foul clouds of smoke blacken the sky,
Unblossomed wildflowers, they wither and die.
Deranged minds feeding on the veins
Of the mighty green forest they sickly stain.
Black is for war, urucum is for the blood
They spill with their pitiful numinous greed.

They weep, they fear
The forest, the ghost.
The darkness, his laughter,
Echoes of lashes.

No God, no mercy,
The fire, the snake,
A nightmare crawling
Their skin, their minds, his preys.

Hatred burns my heart and scars whenever Nature calls.
Your fiery spines glowing in the dark,
the ornaments of nightfall,
Draw us, beasts of the Earth,
With your silent grandeur, and light our path as a star.
We compose serenades sung by the throats that we slay, worthless agonies heard from afar.

Dreadful screams carried by the winds
Torture my ears, eyes drown in tears.
Foul clouds of smoke blacken the sky,
Unblossomed wildflowers, they wither and die.
Deranged minds feeding on the veins
Of the mighty green forest they sickly stain.
Black is for war, urucum is for the blood
I spill in the name of the creatures they killed.