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A JOS? ESTEV?O

Versos de Bulh?o Pato

Lisboa Typographia Universal Rua dos Calafates, 110

VERSOS DE BULH?O PATO

A JOS? ESTEV?O

Versos de Bulh?o Pato

Lisboa Typographia Universal Rua dos Calafates, 110

Escrevi estes versos para serem recitados em Aveiro, onde o grande orador abriu os olhos, e onde hoje repousa no mesmo ch?o em que descan?a o pae, aquelle honrado var?o de Plutharco, que se chamava Luis Cypriano.

Jos? Estev?o est? alli bem, ao p? dos que tanto amou, que ainda vivem, e ao lado de seu pae, que partilha, como elle, do profundo somno da morte.

A pomba que vem esvoa?ar por entre os cyprestes, que d?o sombra ? sepultura, ? a filha do admiravel improvisador, aquella Joanninha, anjo que no ber?o se assustou com as tristezas da terra, e bateu azas fugindo para o seio de Deus!

Publicando estes versos, tributo humilde, mas sincero e de muita saudade, ? memoria do notavel genio, aproveito a occasi?o para agradecer ao primeiro poeta que hoje temos haver espontaneamente publicado, na sua sentidissima carta em resposta ao meu amigo Freitas d'Oliveira, os alexandrinos que apparecem n'esta breve composi??o, assim como as palavras de benevolencia que me dirigiu.

Lisboa, 16 de fevereiro de 1866.

Bulh?o Pato

A JOS? ESTEV?O

Eu fui..........

Eil-o junto de n?s dormindo o somno eterno. Na terra emfim descan?a ao p? do ch?o paterno. Ao pae que tanto amor em vida lhe votou Tambem na sepultura agora se abra?ou. Quando ao romper do sol alegre o c?o rebrilha, Como anjo tutelar desce do Empyreo a filha; Bate as azas gentis por entre o cyprestal, E solta hymno inspirado ao somno paternal. Quem constante lidou, desde a mais tenra edade, Em prol do amor da patria, em bem da humanidade, Quando ? chegada a hora e deixa a terra emfim, ? entrada do outro mundo encontra um seraphim.

E quem pois o amor da patria Com vehemencia egual sentiu, Qual o peito onde surgiu Mais ardente hoje esse amor? Quem, como elle, n'um s? gesto, Quando a turba se atropela, Quebra as ondas da procella Resistindo ao seu furor?

E se a m?o da prepotencia Procurava erguer-se altiva, Quem mais prompta e quem mais viva Tinha sempre a inspira??o? Era ouvil-o ouvir a patria, Quando exclama na anciedade: <> Com a voz do cora??o.

Ah! no exilio, quantas vezes, Afogada entre gemidos, Mormur?ra a seus ouvidos A voz do paiz natal! E ouvindo-a sua alma, em impetos Do mais sincero heroismo, Sonhava em transp?r o abysmo E libertar Portugal!

Ent?o a graciosa ald?a, O val coberto de olmeiros, Os ingenuos companheiros De seus jogos infantis, Tudo aos olhos lhe sorria, Matisado de mil c?res, Montes, valles, prados, flores, C?o e luz do seu paiz!

Rompe um dia aurora esplendida, O tambor toca a rebate, No mais fero do combate Entra, luta, conquistou! Conquista dos proprios lares!... Mas do campo afasta a vista, Por que emfim n'essa conquista Sangue de irm?os se espalhou!

Era assim: tinha lutando No olhar o fogo supremo, Na voz o poder extremo Que arrebata a multid?o; Desafiando o inimigo, Entre as nuvens da metralha, Era um tigre na batalha, Na victoria--era um irm?o!

Termina a luta fervida, Cae na bainha a espada, Retorna aos lares placidos Da terra sua amada, D'esta que ber?o e tumulo Do grande genio foi! Se nos assaltos bellicos Distincto era o soldado, Ac??es inda mais validas Lhe destinara o fado: Desprende a voz, e a patria Sauda um novo heroe!

Quando se abatem animos, Medindo a luta immensa, Quando n'alguns espiritos J? desfallece a cren?a, Surge imponente e mostra-lhes Raiar nova manh?! ? porque o genio esplendido, Que a liberdade inspira, ? como a voz prophetica, Que outr'ora dirigira Do Egypto um povo misero ? fertil Canaan!

Quando com olhos avidos, Em torno a n?s medimos A industria, o bem, a gloria, Em tudo, emfim, sentimos Que dera impulso maximo Seu sopro animador! N?o raro correm lagrimas De uma saudade infinda!... Quanto n?o fez!... quantissimo Tivera feito ainda, Se o n?o roubasse subito A morte ao nosso amor!

Dorme junto de n?s, dorme teu somno eterno Na terra a que votaste o santo amor fraterno. Ao declinar da tarde, ao rebrilhar do sol, Na hora em que descante occulto rouxinol, Vir? tambem do empyreo, alegre philomela, A tua ingenua filha, a pomba alva e singela, Esvoa?ar gentil por entre o cyprestal, Soltando hymno inspirado ao somno paternal; Por que, emfim, quem lidou desde a mais tenra edade, Em prol do amor da patria, em bem da humanidade, Quando ? chegada a hora, e deixa a terra emfim, ? entrada do outro mundo encontra um seraphim.

Fevereiro, 5--1866

Bulh?o Pato.

"The globe, half bright and half black, in the center," I said, "represents the earth. The large circle surrounding the earth we will call the moon's orbit, which she traverses once every month. The smaller globe, also half white and half black, shown in four successive positions in the orbit, is the moon. Suppose the sun to be away off here on the left. It illuminates the earth and the moon only on the side turned toward it. The opposite side of both is buried in night. Now, let us begin with the moon at the point A. She is then between the earth and the sun, the bright side being necessarily toward the sun and the dark side toward the earth. In that position we do not see the moon at all from the earth, unless she happens to come so exactly in a line with the sun as to cover the latter, in which event we have an eclipse of the sun. Now, suppose the moon to move in her orbit toward B. In a little more than seven days she will arrive at B. In the meantime, while moving away from the position of the sun, she begins to present a part of her illuminated hemisphere toward the earth. This part appears in the form of a sickle, or crescent, which grows gradually broader, until, at B, it has grown to a half circle. In other words, when the moon is in the position B we on the earth see one half of her illuminated surface. This phase is called First Quarter. The narrow crescent, which appears as soon as the moon begins to move from A toward B, is the New Moon. As the moon continues on from B toward C, more and more of her illuminated half is visible from the earth, and when she arrives at C, just opposite to the position of the sun, she becomes a Full Moon. We then see, as occurs to-night, the whole of that face of the moon which is presented sunward. The upper half of the diagram shows how the moon moves from the position of Full Moon back again to New Moon, or conjunction with the sun. During this latter part of her course the moon rises later and later every night, until, when she assumes the form of a waning crescent, she is visible only in the morning sky just before sunrise.

"Now, there is another interesting thing shown by this diagram," I continued--but my companion, who had followed my explanations thus far with flattering attention, here suddenly ran to the door exclaiming:

"For mercy's sake, what is happening to the moon?"

Footnote 1:

It may be well to add to what is said in the text about the orbit of the moon, that, while the moon does perform a revolution around the earth once a month, yet her orbit is drawn out, by the common motion of both earth and moon around the sun, into a long curve, whose radius is continually changing, but which is always concave toward the sun. This is illustrated in the accompanying diagram. Suppose we start with the earth at A. The moon is then between the sun and the earth, or in the phase of New Moon. The earth's orbit at this point is more curved than the moon's, and the earth is moving relatively faster than the moon. At B the earth is directly ahead of the moon. But now the moon's orbit becomes more curved than the earth's and it begins to overtake the earth. At C the moon has come up even with the earth, but on the opposite side from the sun. From that point to D the moon gains upon the earth until she is directly ahead of it. Then, from D to E the earth gains until the two bodies are in the same relative positions which they occupied at A. Throughout the entire lunation, however, notwithstanding the changes which the shape of the moon's orbit undergoes, the latter is constantly concave toward the sun. This shows that the sun's attraction is really the governing force, and that the attraction of the earth simply serves to vary the form of the moon's path, and cause it to move in a virtual ellipse with the earth for its focus.

I glanced over her shoulder, and saw a smudgy scallop in the moon's edge.

"Really," I said, "I am ashamed of myself. There is an eclipse of the moon to-night, and I had positively forgotten it! What you see is the shadow of the earth, which has the form of a long cone stretching away more than eight hundred thousand miles into space, and whenever our satellite at the time of Full Moon gets nearly in a direct line with the earth and the sun, it passes through that shadow and undergoes an eclipse. That is what is happening at the present moment."

"And the shadow has a round form because the earth is round, I suppose."

"Certainly; the shadow of a globe must have a circular outline. But the shadow of the earth, although it finally diminishes to a point, is, at the moon's distance, still about 5,700 miles in diameter, or more than two and a half times the diameter of the moon. In consequence of the motion of the earth in its orbit around the sun, its shadow constantly moves eastward, like a great pencil of darkness sweeping straight across the heavens, but invisible to us except when the moon, traveling eastward faster than the shadow, overtakes and passes through it. This does not by any means happen at every full moon, because, for a reason which I shall explain presently, the moon usually passes either above or below the shadow of the earth, and thus escapes an eclipse. When an eclipse does occur it lasts a long time because the shadow is moving in the same direction as the moon. The moon must pass entirely through it before the eclipse ends. On this occasion the moon will be in the shadow more than three hours, and during an hour and a half she will be totally immersed. We shall have plenty of time, then, to observe the phenomenon, and after you have satisfied your curiosity a little by watching the slow advance of the shadow movement across the moon, we can return to our diagram and finish its explanation before the eclipse becomes total."

Accordingly, after having watched the progress of the eclipse for half an hour, during which time the shadow began perceptibly to diminish the moonlight in the park, we returned to the lamplight and the diagram on the table.

"I was saying," I resumed, "that another interesting thing in addition to the cause of the moon's changing phases is represented here. You observe that a little cross stands on each of the four circles representing the moon, and that, in every case, the cross is in the center of that side of the moon which faces the earth. In fact the position of the cross upon the moon is fixed and invariable, and it always points toward the earth because the moon makes exactly one rotation on her axis in the course of one revolution around her orbit, or, as it is often called, one lunation. We know that this is so because we always see the same features of the lunar surface, no matter where the moon may be situated. This is true although, in consequence of the phases, we cannot see the whole face of the moon except when she is full. But whether it is the New Moon, or First Quarter, or Full Moon, or Last Quarter, or Old Moon, that we look at, the mountains and plains visible are identically the same. If the moon did not turn once on her axis in going once around the earth we would see all of her sides in succession, although only at Full Moon could we see an entire hemisphere illuminated by the sun. At Old and New Moon the side presented to the earth would be just the opposite to that presented at Full Moon. At Last Quarter the side facing the earth would be the opposite to that facing the earth at First Quarter."

"But, tell me," said my friend, "how did the moon ever come to so humiliating a pass that she must be forever turning on her heel to face the earth?"

"That," I replied, "is a result of the same forces which originally separated her from the earth and gradually pushed her off to her present distance. In a word it is due to 'tidal friction.' Before the moon had solidified, the attraction of the earth raised huge tides in her molten mass. These tides acted on the rotating moon like brakes on a wheel, and at length they slowed down her rotation until its period became identical with that of her revolution around the earth. For the mathematical calculations on which all this is based you must go to Professor Darwin's book on 'The Tides,' or some similar technical treatise; but I imagine you will never do that."

"Not just at present, I assure you. I do not know what unexpected ambition for the acquirement of scientific knowledge may arise after I have seen those wonders that you have promised to show me in the moon, but, for the moment, I am content to accept your statement of the simple fact."

"Good!" I replied. "And now, perhaps, you will have the patience to listen to an explanation of a very important relation which exists between the moon and the earth. We are led to it by what I have just said concerning tides. You know, of course that the tides in the oceans are due principally to the attraction of the moon. The sun also raises tides in the seas, but the moon, being so much nearer than the sun, is the chief agent in producing them. Sometimes the moon and the sun act together; at other times they pull in different directions. At Full Moon and at New Moon they pull together, because then they are either on opposite sides of the earth, or both on the same side. At such times we have the highest tides in all our seaports. That occurs about once every fortnight. But when the moon is at either First or Last Quarter, as you will perceive by looking at the diagram, her position, as seen from the earth, is at a right angle with a line drawn to the sun. Then the sun raises tides in one direction and the moon in another direction. The result is that at such periods the tides are lowest. An exact knowledge of these things is very important for mariners because there are harbors whose channels can be navigated by large ships only when the tides are high. Tables predicting the times and heights of the tides have been prepared for all the principal seaports of the world. In truth, the moon renders important services to the inhabitants of the earth, not merely in supplying them with a certain amount of light in the absence of the sun, but also in enabling them to navigate waters which are too shallow for ships except when deepened by the tide. The tides also, in many cases, serve to scour out channels and keep them open."

"Really, I am quite interested, and the more so because I find the moon, like a dutiful daughter, trying to be of some use to her mother. But have I not heard that the tides occur on both sides of the earth at once, and not simply on the side where the moon happens to be at the time? Please tell me how that can be so?"

"A complete reply to your question would carry us into the realm of mathematical physics, but perhaps I can throw a little light upon the matter with the aid of this second diagram.

"The eclipse is not yet total," I continued, glancing out of the door, "and we can finish our explanation before it becomes so. Have the kindness, then, to look at the diagram. Suppose E to be the center of the earth, and M the center of the moon. The protuberant portions of the earth C A D and D B C represent the waters of the ocean pulled away from the surface of the earth, if I may so describe it, by the moon's attraction. You are probably aware that the attraction of gravitation varies with the distance of the attracting body. The distance from the center of the earth to the center of the moon is about 239,000 miles. But the earth being nearly 8,000 miles in diameter, the surface of the ocean at A is about 4,000 miles nearer to the moon than is the center of the earth E. It follows that the force of the moon's attraction is greater at A than at E. If the water of the ocean were a fixed, solid part of the earth there would be no perceptible effect resulting from this difference in the amount of the moon's attraction. But since the water is free to move, to a certain extent, it yields to the attraction, and is drawn up a little toward the moon. At the same time it is, in effect, drawn away from C and D. The consequence is the production of a tide on the side facing the moon.

"Now, for the other tide, produced at the same time on that side of the earth which is turned away from the moon. The point B is about 4,000 miles farther from the moon than E; consequently the moon's attractive force is less at B than at E. From this it results that the body of the earth is more forcibly attracted by the moon than is the water at B. The earth therefore tends to move away from the water at that point, and another tidal protuberance is produced, with its highest part at B. I should add that while the water of the ocean is, to a certain degree, free to respond to these differences of attraction, the earth itself, being solid, can only move as a single body, and, mathematically, we may regard it as if its entire mass were concentrated at the center E. Please remember, however, that this explanation is only elementary, only intended as a graphic representation of the tides, and not as a mathematical demonstration of the way they are produced. Such a demonstration would only be suited to one of the technical books that you have not found as interesting as--some other branches of literature.

"There is just one other thing to which I must ask your attention, and then we shall return to the moon herself and the phenomena of the eclipse now in progress. You will notice in the diagram, that two arrows show the direction in which the earth is continually rotating on its axis, and that a dotted curve, terminating with an arrow point, indicates the course of the moon in her orbit surrounding the earth. The rotation of the earth is so much more rapid than the motion of the moon that the points A and B are carried out of the line drawn from the center of the moon to the center of the earth, in the direction of the arrows. From this it follows that the tides are never directly under the moon, or exactly opposite to her, but sweep in great waves round the globe. The tides produced by the attraction of the sun are only about two fifths as high as those caused by the moon. As I have already explained they are sometimes superposed upon the lunar tides--at New and at Full Moon--and sometimes they are situated at right angles to the lunar tides--at First and Last Quarters."

"But the eclipse!" interrupted my friend, whose attention had evidently begun to wander. "I think the totality of which you spoke must be at hand, for notice how dark the park has become, and the fireflies are so brilliant under the trees."

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