Clarice Lispector, renowned brazilian writer and poetress, with simple phrases wrote a little masterpiece. The phrases (a version into English) she used are shown below, but not in order. Once you realized the proper order youīll find out the beauty of what she wrote because, if you read it downwards, itīs the end of a love affair, and if you read it upwards, itīs a confession of a great passion. Can you just rearrange the phrases below to achieve this? You canīt add anything and the punctuations already made belong to the phrases where they are. All the initials I capitalized deliberately to make it not too easy, but in the original only those who start a phrase are capitalized.

           I still want you, as I always did.
           I`m sure that
           I feel inside that
           I already forgot you!
           I`ll be lying if I say that
           And Iīll never use again the phrase
           Nothing was in vain.
           Sorry, but I must tell you the truth:
           You donīt mean anything to me.
           I love you!
           I couldnīt ever say that
           Itīs too late...
           I donīt love you anymore.
           I preserve a great love.
           I feel more and more that                      

I decided that the phrases "Nothing was in vain" and "It's too late.." were the best choices for first and last phrases.  Though "Nothing was in vain" would usually be considered positive, and "It's too late..." considered negative, both phrases can be influenced by context.  I arranged the rest of the phrases in the way that seemed most appropriate to me.

Nothing was in vain.
I’m sure that
You donīt mean anything to me.
I`ll be lying if I say that
I still want you, as I always did.
I feel more and more that
I already forgot you!
I couldnīt ever say that
I preserve a great love.
I feel inside that
I donīt love you anymore.
And Iīll never use again the phrase
I love you!        
Sorry, but I must tell you the truth:
Itīs too late...

It's unlikely Clarice used the exact same order, because many of the phrases are interchangeable, or perhaps the subtlest differences were lost in translation.

Interesting poem, artistic puzzle!
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Posted by Tristan on 2005-09-14 23:42:45