A Tale of the Creation of the Azores

A long, long time ago, back before time itself, where now there is matter and space, there were magic vibrations everywhere instead. They were refracting, symmetrical, spiral, twisting, and pulsating explosions of pure energy.

The whole universe was aglow with a bright sheen of light that covered everything like a new blanket of snow, like a cover of clouds in the upper atmosphere. In it, a crystal rainbow glimmer sparkled, flared up, twisted in explosions of color and music. Further on, there were galaxy shaped whirlpools and rainbow shimmer that turned into music. Quantum waves of sparkling energy filled the void.

That was the time when gnomes, naiads, trolls, fairies and sprites frolicked carefree. There was magic everywhere and luminous beings came to the forefront and lingered in arrays of pure life energy. It was a fascinating unreal reality.

In those days there were no stars, no sun, nor planets. A source of light energy permeated the whole existence with a gentle glow. It was like an ocean of pure energy. There was a life presence everywhere. It was a reality of dreams, as the world was being fashioned.

In one of those days, someone came forward and called out “Come children, come! Where are you? Children, come, where are you?”

A being all dressed in light showed up as it flowed through beams of energy. She called on her nine children who were playing somewhere in the glow. “Children, where are you hiding?”

Among giggles, someone finally spoke up. It was a voice of one of the children. “Here, Mom, here we are, Mom!”

A group of children dressed each in a different hue of light stepped forward from the wooly haze. They were still giggling and smiling as they approached their mother. One was a yellow glow, another was emerald green, the third dressed lilac, next to her there was one covered in transparent brown; right behind him there was another child dressed in blue. In the middle, a tall child donned on gray, and behind the child dressed in lilac there was a pretty child dressed in white alabaster. Trailing behind there was a beautiful girl dressed in pink. She held the hand of her little brother, one dressed in dark black velvet. They were a beautiful group of children and they smiled happily.

“Where were you then?’ asked their mother.
“Playing!” they all answered at once.
“Playing, I see,” replied the mother.
“Well, I need to go out on an errand. You stay here, and be good. Don’t’ leave this area. I will be back shortly!
“Where are you going, Mom?” one of them asked.
“You know that I am leaving, but I will keep my eyes on you all the time. You know that, don’t you?” she warned.
“Yes, Mom, we know!” they answered.
“Well, then, I’ll be seeing you. Be good!”
“OK, Mom!”

They sat on a glimmering sandy beach. They soon began to play with the grains of sand which shone just like stars. Together they started to recite a chant that went like this:

Pretty grains of sand the color of ivory
Sparkling like crystals, like fine jewelry
Throw them up in the air, let them fill the sky!
Throw them up in the air, first you and then I!

They twinkle like gold, they twinkle like silver
Like precious diamonds. They sparkle like glitter
How wonderful, look, how dazzling, how bright!
Let’s throw some more and make it just right!

Little grains of light scattered in space
All together they make pictures, look there is a face!
There is the Big Bear, and the Moon - that’s your shoe!
Mom is going to find out; oh my, what shall we do?

And that very bright one is the tooth that I lost
But that comet, my bracelet, is the one I like most
Little grains of sand, millions of fires aglow
I go first, you go next, let’s go one more throw!

Pretty grains of sand, little stars in the sky
Sparkling like crystals, like cinders they fly
Throw them up in the air’ what a beautiful sight!
Throw them up in the air, let them whirl left and right!...


All of a sudden they were interrupted by one of the gods. He was all dressed in aqua blue. His eyes were of deep see blue and his hair the color white sea foam.

“May I join you?” he asked.
“Yes, you can,” they answered “
“What’s your name Mr. ?” asked the boy dressed in velvet.
“My name is Poseidon,” he replied.
“Who sent you here?” they asked.
“Your Mom, that’s who,” he answered. “She wants me to keep an eye on you.”
“An eye on you! That’s funny,” they all laughed.
“An eye on me, an eye on you,” they chanted twirling like a whirlwind.
“Poseidon, do you want to play with us?” they asked stopping midway inside puffs of a cloudy glow, stopping to cast the sand they still held in their hands.
“Yes, but wait, why don’t you build sand worlds instead of throwing sand around like that?”

They stopped to look at each other and answered in unison, “But, what a beautiful idea!”
“I will be the first” prompted Santa Maria.
“I will be second,” seconded São Miguel falling to his knees and beginning to build an island with two mountains on both ends.
“I am the third, but I will be the best and the first one to finish!” Terceira hummed in.

Before you know it, every one of them was crouched on the sandy surface building mountains; scooping up valleys and calderas, packing up plateaus and mountain chains, digging lakes, drilling narrow passages, building enchanting landscapes out of sand.

Once in a while one of them teased someone in the group,” Look, my world is better than your world, just look!”
“No,” cried another, “Mine is the best! Look at this beautiful beach I built!” “They are all pretty. All of you are doing a marvelous job! Keep it up!” answered Poseidon trying to make peace among them.
“Why don’t’ you help us, Poseidon?” suggested São Miguel.

The sea god agreed and crouched next to them building little islands next to theirs.
“Come here Mr. Merman,” shouted Terceira. “Come and help me!”
“No,” cried Graciosa, the gentle little girl dressed in alabaster,” I need help!”
“Well, well, why don’t’ you all help each other?” suggested Poseidon.
“You, São Miguel, you help Santa Maria for she is near you. You São Jorge or you Terceira, you help Graciosa or one another because you are all close by; you Faial help Pico, because he is the youngest among all of you.” “ You, Flores, help your brother Corvo, and you Corvo help your sister Flores, and You, São Miguel, I see that you finished first, you help everybody else,” commanded Poseidon.
“Let them help themselves,” protested São Miguel, “Let them do what I did.” “São Miguel, São Miguel, don’t’ you see that they are smaller than you; that they are not as strong and quick as you?! Come on, do try to help! Just be nice!”

They were all so busy in their individual creations that they didn’t realize that a bull and a dragon had taken substance near them and that they carried a frightful fight. The ground shook and ripped apart, clouds of fire and smoke went up and enveloped the whole area.
“Run! Run!” cried Faial.
“Let’s hide over there,” shouted Flores.

They all pulled away from their sand worlds and hid in a tuft of dark matter. The bull and the dragon backed up as they kept pummeling each other. As they wrestled, they stomped on the nine sandy constructions. They left deep footsteps and knocked down mountains. Fire bolts zapped the whole area turning the everything pitch black.

“Oh, no!’ cried the children from where they were hiding. “It was your island, São Miguel. They are kicking it with their feet.”
“Now it is yours, Faial,” The dragon just covered it with a bolt of fire!” “Now its’ mine,” cried Terceira, they are knocking down my pretty walls! Stop it! Stop it!” she sobbed.
The sand which was of a light color turned everywhere a dark hue. The sky was covered with a horrible, ominous cloud. In the midst of whirlpools of fire and smoke, the two giants kept on fighting, wrestling each other as everywhere lava flowed, the rocks turned to basalt and the pretty constructions turned to a heap of ashes, a pile of scorched debris.

Awful explosions and eruptions followed the battle as it went on and on without respite. Volcanoes erupted under their feet. Now the bull would corner the dragon and gore him; next the dragon would spit volleys of fire bolts and paw the bull to the ground, which had turned into a muddy puddle. A strong smell of sulfur went up into the air. The children plucked their noses so as not to smell the awful smell. The wind gods, came in and joined in the battle. They howled like demons, lashed the air and made it shake and tremble. The whole area had turned into a disaster area. The children were horror stricken. They cried. How could so much evil be lurking in such a beautiful site?

The bull kept on charging the dragon, but now it also charged against Poseidon who joined in the battle. Waving his blue cape, he stepped away, trying to lead the two monsters in a different direction. Mesmerized by their rage; roaring, growling and howling, they followed him. The sea god climbed a huge cliff that topped a deep cleft, a crevice in the ground. Way down at the bottom of the crevice, there was a void, a terrible deep void.

Roaring and smoking, the bull and the dragon came forward. Huffing and puffing in furor, the bull charged against Poseidon. His horns were as sharp as spearheads. Pulled in by the furor, the dragon charged, discharging billows of smoke and spitting fire.

When both beasts were about to fall upon Poseidon, he wrapped himself around his cape and by magic turned into a wall of water that came tumbling down and flowed into the void. A powerful ocean rushed from all corners of the land and filled up the gap. The children knew this was Neptune, himself, as they hid behind huge boulders and followed what was happening. As they stood there, they turned into Shear Cory birds. They cried, “Aqua! Aqua!” which meant, “Water! Water!” They were awestruck by so much water.
Poseidon’s cape turned into a huge wave that reached up to the sky. In no time it covered every nook and gully under the earth. All that remained on the surface were the nine islands created by the nine children who were now nine Shear Cory water birds flying on its surface.

A huge whirlpool filled up the crevice that led to the void. The two giants, the bull and the dragon, which were lying on the brim of the pit, tumbled down and fell into the void with a tremendous noise, a peal as of huge thunder resounded through the whole world, shattering everything. All of reality as it was gushed forth into the void with a big bang, the sound of a thousand oceans rushed forth, tumbled into the void.

The bull, which was no other than Jupiter, the father of gods, caught by surprise slid along with the primeval waters. As he tumbled down, all of reality turned inside out. The dragon which followed turned into pure fire. The three hurled themselves into the new reality with such a din, as if someone had clapped his hands; with a big bang, everything as we know it was here….

From one moment to the other all the magic that was became the magic that everything is. At the speed of light the galaxies came together. All creatures of light and enchantment were gone, or they took some other form. All the vibrations were trapped into matter, they became atoms and light. Gone was their magic. A huge, overwhelming haze covered the whole world and when everything settled down again, there were stars and galaxies rushing in the void, falling, forever falling into the endless deep of space.

“Mom! Mom!” screamed the children, “Mom!” Then the sun came up, dressed in a veil of light, making the children orbit around itself. At night by moonshine, she tucks them to bed. “There, there, children” she says, “Now go to sleep, rest, know that I am always with you.”

If you look up at night, you will see the dragon up above wrapped around the two Dippers, the Big and the Little Dipper. It is forever tumbling down as it spits fire all around.

You will also see Taurus, the bull, the constellation West of Orion, the magic hunter. Its horns extend all the way to Auriga, the Charioteer, in the winter sky; and down below, you will see Poseidon, the sea god, mirroring the upper world. Under this ocean is a crevice in the shape of a T, where the four continents, Europe, Africa, North America and South America meet. The nine creations are still around. They are the nine islands of the Azores. Santa Maria is the yellow island. She is the first. São Miguel is the emerald island, he was the second. Then there is Terceira, the Third, the island of the Name of Jesus Christ; Graciosa is the pretty alabaster one; São Jorge, like a little boy scout, is all dressed in brown; Faial, like a little seaman, is all dressed in blue; Pico is the tall one and the youngest one too. He is dressed in gray. Far away half way to America is Flores, all covered with flowers and a pink dress. She is right next to Corvo, the smallest of them all, and he dresses in velvet like an Austrian choir boy.

The children themselves, some say they are the Cory Shear birds that come to nest every summer. Some say they are the rainbows that loom in the sky now and then, or they are there at sunrise or twilight with their magic colors. For all we know they are still hiding. There are the magic beings that oversee these islands. Some say you can hear them giggling at times and sobbing at still other times, but they are surely around. You can see them hiding behind any beautiful lit cloud at sunrise or sunset. You can hear them on some green knoll when you hear breeze whispering. I have seen them in some or other rainbow that makes my eyes water with their beauty. Timeless, whenever you leave here, they will follow you like children do, when on the beach they crouch down to see some sea star or some exotic seashell or even a red crab, a limpet or a barnacle; and if you are really tuned in to the mysteries of the deep, deep universe, you will hear Mother say, “Now, now, know that I will always be with you. Go to sleep my children! Go to sleep!”


Silvério Gabriel de Melo
The Atlantic Ocean, The Place Where We Live


Cantinhos da nossa Terra

-In mir ist ein Verlangen!
Cantinhos da nossa aldeia
Ein süssscchmerzhaftes Sehnen
Que não nos saiem da idéia
Nach dem Land woher wir stammen
Mundo de sonhos, quimera
Mir fallen schon die Tränen

A minha terra bordada
My deep sea green emerald island
De hortênsias azuis e brancas
Sweet sorrow, how deep my longing!
Da côr do céu, nuvens mansas
I find myself, my eyes closing
Berço, ilha, terra amada
Back again in my homeland

Livre por lombas, pastagens
Je suis livre oú je suis né
Há uma luz mansa que cobre
Ma île, comme je l’adore
Um sossêgo, que não dorme
Mais partir a eté mon sort
Que me chama, vive de imagens
Donc est elle pour moi sacré

Português da Lusa Pátria
Portuguieser ohne Grenzen
Pela Europa fora à deriva
Seemann unter so manchen Menschen
Caravela rumo a uma utopia
Träumer, die Welt will er gewinnen
Heroi numa nobre batalha
Will eine neue Ordnung finden

Silvério Gabriel de Melo
Terceira is one of the islands of the Azores. Located in the middle of the ocean, on the very Middle Atlantic Ridge, it lies on the crossroads (cross seas) of the New World, the Americas, Africa and the Far East.

Magic Islands they impart their magic everywhere you look. They breathe mystery and wonder...We live here.

It is here that the tectonic plates shift and realign themselves. It is here the inner planet is said to surface, to where inner reality encounters outer reality.

... With poetry, as well, there is a constant shift for meaning, for deeper meaning; a surfacing of inner realities that bring forth a reason for tomorrow, a reason for reason itself.

Seek to understand poetry; find its way. For poetry is another form of worshiping the higher forces.

Music and poetry belong to a realm beyond our senses. Learn to listen. Listen to learn. Let your mind reach the higher spheres of being. Be in tune the inner poetry of everything.