Statutes of Man

Thiago de Mello

Be it decreed
that now what counts is the truth.
that now what counts is life
and that hand in hand
we will all work for what life really is.

Be it decreed that all the days of the week,
including the grayest Tuesdays,
have the right to be converted into Sunday mornings.

Be it decreed that, from this instant on,
there will be sunflowers in all the windows,
and that the sunflowers will have the right
to open in the shade;
and that the windows must stay open the entire day,
open to the green where hope grows.

Be it decreed that man
will never again
doubt another man.
That man will trust man
like the palm tree trusts the wind,
like the wind trusts the air,
like the air trusts the blue field of the sky.
Man will trust man
like a child trusts another child.

Be it established during ten centuries
the practice dreamed of by the prophet Isaias:
that the wolf and the lamb will pasture together,
and the food of both will have the same taste as long ago.

By irrevocable decree be it established
the permanent kingdom of justice,
and clarity,
and joy
will be the generous flag
forever unfurled in the soul of the people.

Be it decreed that the greatest pain
always was and always will be
not to be able to give yourself in love to the one you love
and to know that it is the water
that gives to the plant the miracle of the flower.

Be it permitted that the bread of each day
have in it from man the sign of his sweat.
But above all that it always have
the warm flavor of tenderness.

Be it permitted
that any person
at any time in life
be allowed to wear
party clothes.

Be it decreed, by definition,
that man is an animal that loves
and for this reason is beautiful,
much more beautiful than the morning star.

Be it decreed that nothing
will be ordered or forbidden,
everything will be permitted,
including playing with a rhinoceros
and walking in the afternoon
with an immense begonia in the lapel.
Only one thing is forbidden:
to love without loving.

Be it decreed that money
never more will be able to buy
the sun of future mornings.
Driven out of the big trunk of fear
money will be transformed into a fraternal sword,
in order to defend the right to sing
and the celebration of the day that has arrived.

Be it prohibited:
the use of the word liberty,
which will be abolished
from the dictionary and
from the deceptive mires
of the mouth.
From this instant on
liberty will be something
alive and transparent
like a fire or a river
or like a grain of wheat,
and its home will be forever
in the heart of man.

Written by the Brazilian poet Thiago de Mello in Santiago (Chile) in 1964, as areaction to the military junta which had seized power in Brazil that same year, issuing a series of repressive extra-constitutional decrees.