Salt

Ode to Salt

This salt
in the saltcellar
I once saw in the salt mines.
I know
you won't believe me,
but
it sings,
salt sings, the skin
of the salt mines
sings
with a mouth smothered
by the earth.
I shivered in those solitudes
when I heard the
the voice of
the salt
in the desert.
Near Antofagasta
the nitrous pampa
resounds:
a broke
voice,
a mournful
song.

(From "Ode to Salt" by Pablo Neruda)