Poetry Friday

I'm still stuck on weddings. Forgive me. Here's a picture of my sister from her reception, also taken by Terry Dawson.

But, it's Poetry Friday! Yay! Today I'm bringing you 2 sonnets by Pablo Naruda. The first is the one that was supposed to be read at Abbey's wedding but there was a snafu, and so the second is the one that was actually read. But first, do you know what my favorite Simpsons line ever is? It's the episode where Bart sells his soul and he can't laugh at "Itchy and Scratchy" anymore.

Bart: I know that's funny, but I'm just not laughing.
Lisa: Hmm. Pablo Neruda said: "Laughter is the language of the soul."
Bart: I am familiar with the works of Pablo Neruda.

The deadpan delivery of that last line is just hysterical. Also! Only 13 days left to vote in the sidebar for what to read for MotherReader's 48 Hour Challenge. I'm going to start gathering the books on Tuesday, so make your voice count!






Sonnett XVII

don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving

but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

Sonnett LXXXI

And now you’re mine. Rest with your dream in my dream.
Love and pain and work should all sleep, now.
The night turns on its invisible wheels,
and you are pure beside me as a sleeping ember.

No one else, Love, will sleep in my dreams. You will go,
we will go together, over the waters of time.
No one else will travel through the shadows with me,
only you, evergreen, ever sun, ever moon.

Your hands have already opened their delicate fists
and let their soft drifting signs drop away;
your eyes closed like two gray wings, and I move

after, following the folding water you carry, that carries
me away. The night, the world, the wind spin out their destiny.
Without you, I am your dream, only that, and that is all.

Becky has the roundup!