Wednesday, April 04, 2007

I do Not Love you

I do not love you - By Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms,
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers.
Thanks to your love a certain fragrance,
risen darkly from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride,
so I love you because I know no other way than this:
where "I" does not exist, nor "you,"
So close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
So close that your eyes close and I fall asleep.


I wonder why Neruda's poems never featured in any of our school text books. They were positively brilliant!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

we r so meant to be! ;)

Tony said...

No kidding. I wondered the same thing after I got to college. Why had I never heard of this amazing Chilean poet. I'm glad you're doing your part to share his work with the world though. Everyone should get a good dose of Neruda if they can. If you're looking for some more interesting work, check out http://www.redpoppy.net/pablo_neruda.php; it's a new Neruda project my friend is working on.