2014-04-07




I love the handful of the earth you are.
Because of its meadows, vast as a planet,
I have no other star. You are my replica
of the multiplying universe. 
Your wide eyes are the only light I know
from extinguished constellations;
your skin throbs like the streak
of a meteor through rain. 
Your hips were that much of the moon for me;
your deep mouth and its delights, that much sun;
your heart, fiery with its long red rays, 
was that much ardent light, like honey in the shade.
So I pass across your burning form, kissing
you - compact and planetary, my dove, my globe. 
-- Pablo Neruda (trans by Stephen Tapscott)


(1959)







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