Is the sea there? Tell it to come in.
Bring me
the great bell, one of the green race.
Not that one, the other one, the one that has
a crack in its bronze mouth,
and now, nothing more, I want to be alone
with my essential sea and the bell.
I don't want to speak for a long time,
silence! I still want to learn,
I want to know if I exist.
______________________
PABLO NERUDA
translated by William O'Daly
THE SEA AND THE BELLS
Copper Canyon Press 2002
