Seashell
To Antonio Machado
On the beach I have found a seashell made of gold,
solid and embroidered with the finest pearls;
Europa touched it once with her divine hands
when she crossed the waves upon the heavenly bull.
I have raised the sounding seashell to my lips
and woken the echo of the reveilles of the sea;
I held it to my ears, and the blue mines
told me in a low voice their secret treasure.
So the salt reaches me from the bitter winds
that the ship Argo felt in her swollen sails
when the stars were in love with Jason's dream;
and I hear a murmur of waves and an unknown voice
and a deep swell and a mysterious wind…
(The seashell has the shape of a heart.)
Songs of Life and Hope, 1905
Rubén Darío, 1905. Translated for Zeitzung from the Spanish text at Ciudad Seva. Public domain.