All love letters are ridiculous


All love letters are
Ridiculous.
They wouldn't be love letters if they weren't
Ridiculous.

In my time I also wrote love letters,
Like the others,
Ridiculous.

Love letters, if there is love,
Must be
Ridiculous.

But in the end,
Only those who have never written
Love Letters
Are
Ridiculous.

If I could go back
To when I wrote love letters
Without thinking how
Ridiculous.

The truth is that today
My memories
Of those love letters
Are what is
Ridiculous.

(All extravagant words,
Like all extravagant feelings,
Are naturally
Ridiculous.)

-Fernando Pessoa