You are the daughter of the sea, oregano's first cousin. <br />Swimmer, your body is pure as the water; <br />cook, your blood is quick as the soil. <br />Everything you do is full of flowers, rich with the earth. <br /> <br />Your eyes go out toward the water, and the waves rise; <br />your hands go out to the earth and the seeds swell; <br />you know the deep essence of water and the earth, <br />conjoined in you like a formula for clay. <br /> <br />Naiad: cut your body into turquoise pieces, <br />they will bloom resurrected in the kitchen. <br />This is how you become everything that lives. <br /> <br />And so at last, you sleep, in the circle of my arms <br />that push back the shadows so that you can rest- <br />vegetables, seaweed, herbs: the foam of your dreams. <br /> <br />Translated by Stephen Tapscott<br /><br />Pablo Neruda<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-xxxiv-3/
