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                      

As I said to Bob in my last comment, one could find a different arrangement to the phrases that fits the intention of Clarice.

Ths arrangement presented by Tristan is totally acceptable, it doesnīt matter if it is only slightly different from the "official poem".

Thank you all who dedicate part of your time trying to "solve" this. Iīm posting the poem Clarice wrote.

Only as a curiosity, though naturalized brazilian, Clarice Lispector born in Ucrania.  

Posted by pcbouhid on 2005-09-15 14:23:21