'the ocean'

‘It’s not the wave with its salty weight

that grinds against the coasts and manufactures

the peaceful bands of sand that ring the world:

it is the central volume of your strength,

the ever-extending power of your waters,

the still solitude brimming with lives.

Time, perhaps, or overflowing cup

of all known motion, a pure oneness

that death has never sealed, green viscera

of blazing absolute totality.

Of the sunken arm that throws up a drop of water

nothing remains but a kiss of salt. Of the bodies

of mankind along your shores a misty scent

of wet flowers is all that lasts. Your energy

seems to slip away without ever being exhausted,

it seems to circle back into the calm.’

by Pablo Neruda (passage from The Ocean)