The Ship, Solid And Black By Juan Ramón Jiménez Translated By Robert Bly

The ship, solid and black,

enters the clear blackness

of the great harbor.

                              Quiet and cold.

                                           —The people waiting

are still asleep, dreaming,

and warm, far away and still stretched out in this   

dream, perhaps . . .

   How real our watch is, beside the dream

of doubt the others had! How sure it is, compared

to their troubled dream about us!

                                                 Quiet. Silence.

Silence which in breaking up at dawn

will speak differently.