Welcome to May 2006 Poem(s) of the Month.
We return again this month to the marvelous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda for one of the two poems. Yes, Neruda penned March’s POM selection, and he is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. I find that he writes with such unrelenting power of conviction, especially in his poems about love, that I am continually returning to them in awe. In “I Do Not Love You” we see the difficulty of articulating through conventional means how much we can say we love someone. Neruda’s poem reflects a love so deep that it can only be talked about by not talking about it – something that lies deep beneath explanation, something that in the end allows the merging of two souls into one consciousness.
I’ve also included a bonus poem for your reading enjoyment, my own “Untitled” 🙂
Hope you are doing well –
Stewart
Pablo Neruda
(1904 – 1973)
I Do Not Love You
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
that 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.
