After his parents' marriage broke apart, he moved to Lisbon in 1933 and attended the Lyceum Passos Manuel and the Escola Técnica Machado de Castro where he wrote his first poems three years later.

The same year he strengthened his friendship with Afonso Duarte, Eduardo Lourenço, Joaquim Namorado, Carlos de Oliveira, and Miguel Torga, friends he made during his time in the army.

Having worked as administrative inspector for the Ministry of Health from 1947, a position held for 35 years, he finally settled in Porto in 1950 where he lived for more than four decades until he moved to the building of the former Eugénio de Andrade Foundation in Foz do Douro.

[2] Despite his national and international prestige he always lived apart from the so-called social, literary or bohemian life, having himself justified his rare public appearances due to "this weakness of the heart called friendship".

His well-deserved recognition came with the publication of As Mãos e os Frutos in 1948, which earned him critical acclaim from Jorge de Sena and Vitorino Nemésio.