Our generation never got to see the sea for the first time.
It was always within us, gleaming, our other half

We beg, beg the nights to darken once more
but when our prayers are answered
it’s just a dimwit delusion, a sea-shimmer to the eyes and
the sea seethes deep inside, a rock-crunching beast [private]

We were born flailing whales
poor little demons drowning in this semblance of light
and the longing is so stingily slight

We just want to see the fucking sea
please,
for the first time.[/private]

Translated by Jenny Cearns.

Jennifer Cearns works as a singer, translator and photographer, and writes regularly on Brazil. She has just completed a degree in English and Portuguese at Oxford University, and is about to return to do a postgraduate degree in Social Anthropology, specialising in Brazil. 

About Ana Rüsche

Ana Rüsche was born in São Paulo. She has published three collections of poetry, Rasgada (‘Torn’, 2005), Sarabanda (2007) and Nós que adoramos um documentário (‘We who love a documentary’, 2012), and one novel, Acordados (‘Awakened’, 2007).

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Brazil Poetry