Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda
Sonnet XVII
by Pablo Neruda
trans. Stephen Tapscott
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.
No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio
o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego:
te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras,
secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma.
Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva
dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores,
y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo
el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra.
Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,
sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.
Pablo Neruda is one of the most gorgeous poets to speak to love, and this is one of his most gorgeous pieces, from Cien sonetos de amor (One Hundred Love Sonnets, 1959), the book of sonnets Neruda wrote for Matilde Urrutia, his third wife and the great love of his late life. It is such a pure expression of love, love carried all the way to the dissolution of self, physical, humbled.
Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) was Chilean, Nobel laureate 1971, communist senator, ambassador, exile, and poet of Canto General and the Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. He died twelve days after the Pinochet coup in September 1973, officially of cancer — though there has been long-standing suspicion (and recent forensic evidence) that he was poisoned by the regime. I do think the political piece is worth noting given that his public life was actually dangerous.
