Thursday, February 11, 2010

Sonnet XVII

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 dark 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 solid fragrance,
risen 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 as I fall asleep.

~Pablo Neruda

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." Oscar Wilde




"Love has its own time, its own season, and its own reasons for coming and going. You cannot bribe it or coerce it or reason it into staying. You can only embrace it when it arrives and give it away when it comes to you."Kent Nerburn

2 comments:

Chelsea Talks Smack said...

Absolutely fabulous.

Meg said...

we had an excerpt of the pablo neruda poem read at our wedding - it's one of my favorite verses of all time, and it is just so beautiful!