For bicentennial_baby......

[Wetzelbill]

So That You Will Hear Me
~ Pablo Neruda

So that you will hear me
my words
sometimes grow thin
as the tracks of the gulls on the beaches.

Necklace, drunken bell
for your hands smooth as grapes.

And I watch my words from a long way off.
They are more yours than mine.
They climb on my old suffering like ivy.

It climbs the same way on damp walls.
You are to blame for this cruel sport.
They are fleeing from my dark lair.
You fill everything, you fill everything.

Before you they peopled the solitude that you occupy,
and they are more used to my sadness than you are.

Now I want them to say what I want to say to you
to make you hear as I want you to hear me.

The wind of anguish still hauls on them as usual.
Sometimes hurricanes of dreams still knock them over.
You listen to other voices in my painful voice.

Lament of old mouths, blood of old supplications.
Love me, companion. Don't forsake me. Follow me.
Follow me, companion, on this wave of anguish.

But my words become stained with your love.
You occupy everything, you occupy everything.

I am making them into an endless necklace
for your white hands, smooth as grapes.

[bicentennial_baby]

1. Wow, that's beautiful....

Seriously...never read that one before. Thank You. :)

[Wetzelbill]

2. yeah that one is from "Twenty Love Poems and a Song Of Despair"

One of my favorites. I figured you'd like it.

Parts of it actually give me chills. If you don't want to find love after reading something like that then, you may not have a heart.

Or, I'm just a total hopeless romantic. :)

[no name no slogan]

3. Neruda RULES

not only was he a nobel-winning poet, he was also a big supporter of Salvador Allende's government in Chile, and a strong anti-fascist.

Which makes him that much cooler, IMHO.

[bicentennial_baby]

4. Word

I posted some of his political poems last night. Good stuff. :)

[no name no slogan]

5. I need to go on a Neruda kick next

I just finished Garcia Lorca's "Poem of the Deep Song". I've been reading a lot of American 20th century stuff, too, but I'm thinking a Neruda binge will suit me just fine! :hi: