This week's pearl for me was the discovery of Sophia De Mello Breyner Andresen's book: 'Shores, Horizons, Voyages...: Selected Poems' (2006). In this book are some of her poems in English and Portuguese.
Sophia: "Poetry is my understanding of the universe, my way of relating to
things, my participation in reality, my encounter with voices and
images. This is why the poem speaks not of an ideal life but of a
concrete one: the angle of a window, the resonance of streets, cities
and rooms, the shadow cast by a wall, a sudden face, the silence,
distance and brightness of the stars, the night’s breath, the scent of
linden and of oregano."
She loooved the sea and wrote a lot about/ around/ on/ under/ before ... - there must be more - it.
"The sea! The sea!" The cry of joy of "10,000" ancient Greeks after their long way home. As told by Xenophon in his 'Anabasis' (4th Century BC). What a story. The cruelty. The murdering. A world of Others.
In our time and age #2018. I am always amazed by the unquestionable love of individual 'homo sapiens' for the sea. I mostly think - and almost never say!: only a couple of hundred years ago the sea was considered as dangerous, smelly and a dumping ground. Not a place of joy, sun and holiday. So ... historically and culturally biased. I repeat: it's something that I think and almost never speak out loud.
