Cais Matutino

' Matutinal Quay '

The market of fish, the market of dawn:

Ballads, pleas, pronouncements and laughs

At the bow of ships that come from abroad.

Cordages and netting asleep underneath;

Astern and outstretched, the wet canvas;

It was night of rain over the oceans of the earth.

The purity of the high seas, the purity of dawn.

There are strings of blood on the fair's floor.

If I had a boat, I would leave right now.

The afar I inhale in the briny air in motion

Has the taste of a body that shines in odour 

For me alone, in an unheeded ocean.

- Ribeiro Couto