Breath of Life 

Full of curiosity one day I asked Life:
"Life, who would I be if I wasn't who I am now?"
I'm sure it wouldn't be known as
Maria Lucia, Maria, Lucia or Lucinha...
 

Maybe it could have other names, like Laura, Rita or Carolina!
But with such different names,
I would never be called what they call me...
Sweet Maria, sweet Lucinha.
 

While waiting for Life's answer,
I was lost in thought.
Crazy thoughts but true,
Thoughts about my life.
 

Rebecca!!! Yes, I think that would be my name.
With that name I would be, who knows, the woman of dreams.
Rebecca the perfect woman,
Woman knowing all the secrets of life.
 

But being Rebecca? I asked Life again:
"Where would I be living now? Who knows in another world?"
Living in an empty world,
Living a lifeless life!
 

Without seeing the blossoming flowers and the green of the fields,
Without seeing the wind in autumn taking the leaves,
Without accompanying my children as they grew up...
Without having only one love in life.
 

Coming back to me from these crazy thoughts,
Frightened, I asked Life:
 

" Life life!
Let me get on with my own life.
I want to be Maria Lucia, Maria, Lucia, Lucinha...
I'm happy with the life you've chosen for Maria."

 

 

Regent's Park. London, November 1989
 MARIA LUCIA DA COSTA

WHY

Breath of Life Why is there a lie?Uncertainty, betrayal, pain, falsehood,disbelief and disillusionment?  Why is there evil? This evil that surrounds usMaking us live in a world of betrayals,Tormented by constant restlessness?  The reason for dissatisfaction... leading...

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BEGINNING OF A NEW LIFE, TO THE RIVER

Breath of Life That's how I stayed... tied on top of suitcases, until the moment we got on the plane to start our trip to Rio de Janeiro. My mother, as always, took great care of me, and always looked after me so that I wouldn't fall. I had already noticed that his...

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INSOMNIA NIGHTS

Breath of Life Sleepless nights thinking about life, Nights with ghosts dominating my mind. Whole sleepless nights I spend, I feel the dawn of another day coming. Why this great anguish and these nights of tears In a heart so full of life? My thoughts are foolish,...

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IF YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY

Breath of Life If you want to be happy Try to be like the deaf who don't hear, The blind who don't see, So that you don't hear and don't see what makes you suffer. If you want to be happy... Try not to remember moments from the distant past, Moments that never come...

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WAITING FOR DAWN

Breath of Life Long were the nights of aloneness,Long were the nights of sorrow and pain.Nights having for companion only worrying thoughts,Draining from me my energy… my dreams.  Too much energy of my body was gone from this distress,Too many hours of my life are...

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ANOTHER DOLL???

Breath of Life But what can I do? I always thought that I would be the only one who could replace the emptiness that my mother felt when her Três Marias, as she called her three daughters Teresa Maria, Claudia Maria and Paula Maria, got married, as well as her son...

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