The Reasonless Reasons of Love , by Carlos Drummond de Andrade

Celebrated as one of the best poems in Brazilian literature, As sem-razões do amor deals with the spontaneity of love. According to the lyrical self, love takes over and drags the beloved regardless of the partner’s attitude.

The title of the poem itself indicates how the verses will unfold: love does not require exchange, is not the result of merit and cannot be defined.

The unreasonableness of love

I love you because I love you.
You don’t have to be a lover,
and you don’t always know how to be one.
I love you because I love you.
Love is a state of grace
and you can’t pay for it with love.

Love is given for free,
it is sown in the wind,
in the waterfall, in the eclipse.
Love escapes dictionaries
and various regulations.

I love you because I don’t love
myself enough or too much.
Because love cannot be exchanged,
conjugated or loved.
Because love is love for nothing,
happy and strong in itself.

Love is the cousin of death,
and the victor over death,
no matter how much they kill it (and they kill it)
at every moment of love.