The octopus

Dark god of the depths,
fern, mushroom, hyacinth,
between rocks that no one has seen,
there in the abyss,
where the dawn, against the light of the sun
the night descends to the bottom of the sea
and the octopus sucks it up
with the suction cups of its tentacles dark ink.


Someone threw a harpoon and the octopus breathes death
due to the second asphyxiation that constitutes his wound
No blood flows from his lips; the night springs forth
and the sea mourns and the earth fades
very slowly as the octopus dies


Jose Emilio Pacheco
Poetic anthology