There's ocean there's woman
and both of them reach me in amiable bays
opening up for example in the churchyard of sunday afternoons
I hear them call but not just any old way
they call in a particular manner
perhaps as a petition or a presence or a suffering
The fact is that basically
and despite all the words in all the pages of dictionaries
I really only have since the world's first morning
two words at my disposal
to name just two things
whatever two I choose
I'm not sure which I like more
whether ocean or woman
I know I like ocean I know I like woman
and when I say ocean when I say woman
I don't say ocean or woman just to say it
When I say ocean when I say woman
there's a certain tone in my voice a certain taste in my mouth
which seem to me to clearly show that ocean and woman
as I say ocean as I say woman
pronounced ocean pronounced woman
are not just words used for speaking
but are perhaps a way of liking
and the awareness of liking
and a pleasure in saying so
a liking of the fact of liking
Woman-ocean is after all
close to womb-emotion
if we forget the letters
and obey the sense of sound
There are waves in the ocean
the ocean breaks in waves that spread in the woman's long hair
and she makes it wave better now and then
in the month of september when the tide is highest
Probably the best part of woman namely her gaze
is for me the woman's ocean
and the woman I meet only once in life
crossing her path for just a moment wherever it may be
perhaps many miles from the ocean
but a woman I can't ever forget
no matter how awash I am in sorrows or worries
is the woman whatever woman
I call the woman from the ocean
In that late september when I depart
from a city whatever city
when I can feel that someone is dying
that something lingers forever in the days
and I sincerely fear I might sink
into some eyes or into water
into a little or a lot of water
an ocean wave a tear or a glassy gaze
I'll say loudly or softly however I'm able
with wide-open mouth or already choking
the words ocean or woman
slowly and ever slower almost in slow motion
woman ocean
then almost as just a vague notion
ocean woman
I don't know but maybe it will be
more than anything else
my way of saying farewell

Translation: 2005, Richard Zenith