Sobre tumulos … flores sobre a face
De ascosas aguas putridas boiando.…
Anda a tristeza ao lado de alegria.…
E esse teu seio, de onde a noite nasce,
E o mesmo seio de onde nasce o dia.…[11]
The theme is as common as joy and sorrow; at the very beginning of Brazilian literature we meet it in a coarser sensualist, Gregorio de Mattos Guerra. In Raymundo Correia, in Machado de Assis, such rhymed homilies are common. They illustrate rather the philosophical background of the poets than their more artistic creativeness. Voluptuary that he was, Bilac preferred in poetry the carefully wrought miniature to the Titanic block of marble; at his best he attains a rare effect of eloquent simplicity. He was as Parnassian as a Brazilian may be in verse, yet more than once, as he chiselled his figurines, they leaped to life under his instrument, like diminutive Galateas under the breath of Pygmalion.
Assim procedo, Minha penna
Segue esta norma,
Por te servir, Deusa serena,
Serena Fórma!