20,000 miles under the sea

(Luz... Porto)

I took a ship

That would take me to Treasure Island.

Instead, she decided I should visit

The bed of the sea.

Deeper and deeper down she went

Into the abyss.

I fainted.

When I came over

I could see crabs, shellfish,

Octopuses and squids.

The creatures looked at me

With their round puzzled eyes

And offered me plankton to eat

(That was all we had

to celebrate my being there).

Mermaids charmed me

With their tunes-

Poor Penelope was I

Looking for my lost Odysseus.

Algae cloth I wove

Trying to make my own shroud

(I was not sure whether

I was dead or not)

But the big fish ate it.

'That's meaningless', they said,

'What's the point of that?'.

I was protected against

Storms and tempests from above.

After some time, however,
I got bored.

I missed a port, my port, my name.

I looked forward to hearing

The hustle and bustle from my small town.

I cried tears

And my liquid feelings gave me

The strange sensation of being pregnant.

I surfaced and was found unconscious

By two sailors.

When I got over from

What they called 'my delirium'

All I could find on the shore

Was an oyster with a black pearl inside...