Explore "When I have Sense of what to Sense Appears" by Fernando Pessoa on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
When I have sense of what to sense appears,
Sense is sense ere 'tis mine or mine in me is.
When I hear, Hearing, ere I do hear, hears.
When I see, before me abstract Seeing sees.
I am part Soul part I in all I touch --
Soul by that part I hold in common with all, / And I the spoiled part, that doth make sense such / As I can err by it and my sense mine call.
The rest is wondering what these thoughts may mean, / That come to explain and suddenly are gone, / Like messengers that mock the message' mien, / Explaining all but the explanation; / As if we a ciphered letter's cipher hit / And find it in an unknown language writ.