El mar / The Sea

What you say about me leads me to where you are(one part of me stays by my sideanother part of me goes off to be at yours)gives me a roof over my head and fills me with footprintsthat will be erased by the turbulence of a fugitive river.

All Translations by Mark C. Aldrich

El mar

Me bastó su presenciapara hacer el mar. Añadíla vertiente escarpada.Bajo las suelas,costuras de basalto—¿o erande pizarra?—y, en los pliegues,asomaba el tomillo,y las flores de espliego.Y el sol rielando, abajo,¡con qué recio dulzor!

Llevaba corto el pelo.El aire olía a roparecién almidonada.

Ella me sonreía conun hilo entre los labios.

The Sea

Her presence was enoughfor me to make the sea. I addedthe steep slope.Beneath the solesseams of basalt—or were theyslate?—and, in the folds,thyme and lavender flowerspopped up.And the sun glittering, below,with such wild sweetness!

She wore her hair short.The air smelled likejust starched clothes.

She smiled at me witha thread between her lips.