The sea does learn from the canefield
the horizontal eloquence of its verse,
georgics of the newsstand, uninterrupted,
spoken aloud and parallel in silence.
The sea does not learn from the canefield
to rise in a passionate tide,
a pestle pounding the beach,
crushing the sand, making it finer.
The canefield does learn from the sea
to advance in a creeping line,
to spread itself out, liquid,
hole by hole up to the tideline.
The canefield does not learn from the sea
how the sugarcane is always flowing;
that the sea is held, and flows
less heavily, for it is held.
Translated by Louis Simpson