| BOTTOM OF THE SEA |

At the bottom of the sea, there are white terrors,
Where the plants are animals
And the animals are flowers.

A silent world that does not reach
The agitation of the waves.
Opening in laughter, round shells,
The seahorse sways.
An octopus advances
In the disorder
Of its thousand arms,
A flower dances,
Spaces vibrate without noise.

Upon the sand, time alights
Light as a handkerchief.

But no matter how beautiful each thing is,
It has a monster within it suspended.


Sophia Mello Breyner,“Dia do mar”, 1947.