Poem Candy: A Soul In A Hurry

Mario de Andrade, in his poem sweets, compares life to enjoying a packet of sweets, just like when we were children.  Enjoying those first candies in a hurry, even with some anxiety … until, suddenly, when we saw that we had few left, the speed changed and we tried to extend that pleasure as much as possible in time, slowing down. Thus, it makes us reflect on how the years offer us another vital perspective, without having time for certain things and valuing other aspects more, such as small details that make our souls vibrate.

A good friend sent me this wonderful poem a few days ago that caressed my soul with every word. Today I want to share this great discovery with you. I hope that reading the poem sweets makes you enjoy the way children do when they savor their long-awaited sweets and reflect on the aspects that are really important in our lives. 

Mario de Andrade

Mário Raul de Morais Andrade was born on October 9, 1893 in São Paulo. He was a world-renowned Brazilian poet, novelist, essayist and musicologist. He has been considered one of the promoters of Brazilian Modernism .

During his life he had two great passions, music and literature. He wrote poetry from his childhood, although his first vocation was music, and in 1911 he decided to enroll at the São Paulo Conservatory. He entered literature as an art critic in magazines and newspapers.

During the 1920s, he decided to focus on the musical realm of his career. He traveled through Brazil studying its folklore, coming to formulate a theory of folk music, both nationalist and personal. He was one of the main animators of the Modern Art Week held in São Paulo in 1922, where he met other young people with the same concerns and created the well-known Group of Five . Mario de Andrade died on February 25, 1945, at his residence in São Paulo, due to a myocardial infarction at the age of 52. 

My soul is in a hurry (Candy Poem)

“I counted my years and discovered that I have less time to live from now on than I have lived until now …

I feel like that child who won a package of sweets: the first ones he ate with pleasure, but, when he realized that there were few left, he began to savor them deeply.

I no longer have time for endless meetings, where bylaws, rules, procedures and internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing is going to be accomplished.

I no longer have time to put up with absurd people who, despite their chronological age, have not grown up.

I do not have time to deal with mediocrity.

I do not want to be in meetings where inflated egos parade.

I do not tolerate manipulators and opportunists.

I am annoyed by the envious, who try to discredit the most capable, to appropriate their places, talents and achievements.

People do not discuss content, just the titles.

My time is short to discuss titles.

I want the essence, my soul is in a hurry …

Without a lot of sweets in the package …

I want to live next to human, very human people.

That he knows how to laugh at his mistakes.

Do not be conceited, with their triumphs.

That is not considered elected, before the time.

Do not let him get away from his responsibilities.

That defends human dignity.

And that you only want to walk on the side of truth and honesty.

The essential is what makes life worth living.

I want to surround myself with people, who know how to touch people’s hearts …

People who were taught by the hard blows of life to grow with soft touches on the soul.

Yes …
I’m in a hurry … -to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.

I intend not to waste any of the sweets that I have left …

I am sure they will be more exquisite than the ones I have eaten so far.

My goal is to reach the end satisfied and at peace with my loved ones and with my conscience.

We have two lives and the second begins when you realize that you only have one … “

-Mario de Andrade 1945-

Poem Candy: a soul in a hurry

When we get older, we remember our childhood with fondness and nostalgia; an optic sifted by nostalgia that envelops us in the feeling that any past time seems / was better. As the years go by, responsibilities grow, we get burdened with tasks, and time to enjoy is diluted between work and family responsibilities.

Mariao de Andrade, in her Poema Golosinas, with each verse makes us travel to a stage in our life. It begins with our childhood to grow … until we are adults and have to go to meetings that we do not want to go to, until we reach an age in which we already have more time lived than we have left to live.

If we realize this, as he tells us, our second life will begin, in which we will have the opportunity to connect with what is essential, with what really matters. Enjoy our time with authentic people full of humanity, generosity and love. With the aim of reaching the end of life with a clear conscience, in peace and satisfied with what has been lived, with the life story that we have built day by day.