The Water Drop Poem by José Emilio Pacheco

The water drop is a model of conciseness,
the entire universe
locked in a pin-point of water.

The drop represents flood and thirst,
the vast Amazon and the great ocean.

The drop was there at the beginning of the world.
It's the mirror, the abyss,
life's house and death's fluidity.

To put it briefly, the water drop is populated with beings
that fight each other, exterminate each other, couple with each other.
They can't escape it,
their screams are useless.

Like everyone they ask:
what's it about,
how long are we here,
what did we do wrong
to wind up prisoners of our water drop?

And no one listens.
Darkness and silence spin around the drop,
a speck of light in the night of the cosmos
where there is no answer.

Translation: Peter Boyle