Fernando Pessoa

One poet I want to shine a light on is Fernando Pessoa [1888-1935], more info here. He's a famous Portuguese poet who is truly incredible. Here's his poem "Horizon", and go here for a site with everything:

Oh sea created before man, your fears

Had coral and beaches and groves of trees.

The night and the thick mist unraveled,

The storms and the mystery surpassed,

The Distance opened in flower, and the Southern Cross

Shone in splendour over the galleons of initiation.

Austere line of the far-off coast-

When the ship comes near, the slope raises up

In trees where the Distance had been empty;

Closer by, the land opens up in sounds and colours:

And, on disembarking, there are birds, flowers,

Where, from afar, there had only been a meaningless line.

The dream consists in seeing the invisible shapes

Of the hazy distance, and, with perceptible

Movements of hope and will,

Search out in the cold line of the horizon

The tree, the beach, the flower, the bird, the spring-

The well deserved kisses of Truth.