Uncollected Poems -71
Every time I think about a thing, I betray it.
I should only think about what is there in front of me.
Not thinking, but seeing.
Not with the mind, but with the eyes.
Anything that is visible exists in order to be seen.
And what exists for the eyes has no reason to exist in the mind;
It exists purely for the eyes and not for the mind.
I look and things exist.
I think and only I exist.
by Fernando Pessoa
from The Complete Works of Alberto Caeiro
Translation from The Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa & Patricio Ferrari