the beautiful days
It happens in April, on this curve of the month that drops to the second half. The weather reports did not remember to announce it in special language. No authority, equipped with an advertising agency, took advantage of the event. Discreet, silent, the beautiful days arrived.
And they abolished, without drastic measures, the statute of heat. The temperature became mild, leading to a review of the clothing. The body, which lived out there exposed and sweaty, is protected against the excesses of nature. Under this minimum of warm clothing, the contented skin receives the visit of the beautiful days.
The color. We rediscovered the correct blue, the blue blue, which months ago had shattered into gray patches in the dirty white of space. The blue was reconstituted in the filtered, decanted light, which also washes away the impoverished hues of natural and manufactured things. Color is more color, in the purity of this air that dares to challenge the vapors, emanations and soot of the technological age. And the benevolent sunbeam, landing on the object, has something of a caress.
The air. Has it become lighter, or are we the ones who have become less heavy, moving with ease, when, before, walking was a task divided between sacrifice and boredom? It became almost voluptuous to walk for the taste of walking, catching the unmistakable signs of the presence of the beautiful days.
It was certainly on a day like these that Cecília Meireles wrote: "The greatest sweetness of life flows in the sunlight, when one is silent. Even the vultures are beautiful, in the wide circle of quiet days". Because the first consequence of the combination of blue and lightness of air is the calm that descends on our stock of problems. They don't cease to exist. But it's easier to carry them.
So, we must do justice to the beautiful days, offer them our gratitude. It will be selfish to enjoy them in the bush, not commenting with friends and even strangers who by chance haven't noticed the rare April gift: "Notice how beautiful the day is." There is no need to emphasize the exclamation point. He may even do it softly, like someone who spreads rumors and doesn't want to commit to national security. Even so, the statement sticks. Not only is the day more beautiful, but also the listener, who knows if he is distracted or with slow sensory perception, gains the chance to discover it as well. Discover and pass on the information.
The chain reaction can help to alleviate somewhat what I call the bewilderment of the world. Where it concludes: to put aside, even for a moment, the weight of the tragic, overwhelming world events, to taste the finesse of the atmosphere and the clarity of the images cut out in the light, is a step taken to reduce confusion, as the good mood of spirit of each one can serve as a preface, or draft preface, to the pacification, or relative pacification, of peoples and their dominators. Instead of alienation, therefore, the pleasure of beautiful days is indirect therapy.
It may be that the stranger answers you with a curse, one of those fashionable in the finest society. It doesn't matter. Do not be offended. He discharged on his amical observation the bitterness that threatened to eat away at him. Free of that gall, perhaps he will also be able to look at the sky and even discover a certain beauty that flutters in the vulture. Anyway, you were warned. You already know what you were missing: the awareness that certain days in April and May are more beautiful than the other days in general, and integrate us into a harmonious whole, in which we are at the same time air, light, softness and people.
Carlos Drummond de Andrade, text published in Jornal do Brasil, 1970.
