Octopus

^{translated from the Catalan by Peter Bush}

                                    Little remains.

                                    We were very near.

                                    Nothing remains.

                                     —Fran García





Group of individuals

who inhabit the depths of the sea

                                         hanging

                                         in the substrata

or slipping along the surface.

Benthic species, by name.

With two big eyes giving them

                                         excellent vision

changing shape and texture

all dependent on what                      luck brings



Why speak of octopus       if I want to speak of the shipwrecked?



Men and women                who float in the sea

                                           like colored buoys

In one year, two thousand six hundred buoys:

the same number as inhabitants of my village



There’s no shore to bring them close, deep

shadows dreaming of            another promised

                                              land and cursing.