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| Red Boat - Taeeun Yoo |
I have come back, and still the sea
keeps sending me strange foam.
It does not get used to the way I see.
The sand does not recognize me.
It makes no sense to return
to the ocean without warning--
it does not know you return
or even that you were away,
and the water is so busy
with all its blue business
that arrivals go unrealized.
The waves keep up their song
and although the sea has many hands,
many mouths and many kisses,
no hand reaches out to you,
no mouth kisses you;
and you soon must realize
what a feeble thing you are.
By now we thought we were friends,
we come back with open arms,
and here is the sea, dancing away,
not bothering with us.
I will have to wait for the fog,
the flying salt, the scattered sun,
for the sea to breathe and breathe on me;
because water is not just water
but a hazy intrusion,
and the waves roll on in the air
like invisible horses.
And so I have to learn
to swim inside my dreams
in case the sea should come
and visit me in my sleep.
And if that happens, all will be well,
and when tomorrow stirs
on the wet stones, the sand
and the great resounding sway of sea
will know who I am and why I return,
will accept me into their school.
And I can be content again
in the solitude of the sand,
graduated by the wind
and respected by the sea-world.
- Pablo Neruda, translated by Alastair Reid
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