i read this as a love poem.
not a love poem
that a person might share with someone else.
a poem that you might choose to share
with the allness of everything.
i like for you to be still
it is as though you are absent
and you hear me from far away
and my voice does not touch you
it seems as though your eyes had flown away
and it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth
as all things are filled with my soul
you emerge from the things
filled with my soul
you are like my soul
a butterfly of dream
and you are like the word: melancholy
i like for you to be still
and you seem far away
it sounds as though you are lamenting
a butterfly cooing like a dove
and you hear me from far away
and my voice does not reach you
let me come to be still in your silence
and let me talk to you with your silence
that is bright as a lamp
simple, as a ring
you are like the night
with its stillness and constellations
your silence is that of a star
as remote and candid
i like for you to be still
it is as though you are absent
distant and full of sorrow
so you would've died
one word then, one smile is enough
and i'm happy;
happy that it's not true
pablo neruda
19 comments:
Ah, Neruda! What a marvel and what marvelous words from him. Thank you for sharing and happy new year.
I am speechless and squirmy. That is a beautiful poem. To be still...for some reason it makes me antsy this evening. I know better though. When I avoid the stillness I know there is something big awaiting me. Sometimes it may be a lesson; sometimes it is just the vastness of nothingness that scares me. Tomorrow morning...I like for ME to be still.
I love the photo, too.
Thanks, Steven!
Viva Neruda! Beautiful. Who is the translator?
I love Pablo Neruda's poetry, the soundtrack to il Postino has quite a few of his poems read by various actors. "I Like for you to be still" is read by Glenn Close here's the link on u tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ8QLbjk97s My very favorite though is "Tonight I can write the saddest lines" read by Andy Garcia, yummmmy!
Hi Steven
I think we could all do with some stillness so that we can connect, not just with people but with all that is around us.
Stillness and being are a bit like a vacuum and can be alarming to some people. Vacuums tend to need filling...
Perhaps we should let life fill them rather than us.
Happy days
helo lydia - i'm inferring that you're an admirer of neruda's writing! me too! i'm glad you could drop by. steven
hello jenny stevning - being still used to be much harder for me when i judged my value by what i had done. slowly the idea that silence, stillness, peacefulness are all acceptable states of "doing" enetered my experience. then i saw the value. it arrives when necessary is my assumption. have a peaceful day. steven
hey lorenzo, i'm glad you liked it. i don't have info on the translator unfortunately. have a lovely day. steven
hi moira - thanks so much for the link. i'll be watching that after school. i hope the comment readers make the jump also! steven
hello delwyn - i'm right with you. i think my comment above to jenny s. tells that story. but it's not something people would associate me with until very recently. silence. peace. letting the allness of everything just flow in and through. thanks for this. have a lovely day. steven
My reaction was the same as Jenny's - this poem made me restless!
Pablo just turned me into pablum, all still and catatonic...being still is essential to well being and I find it increasingly more difficult the slower I become (age) and the faster time speeds up...being too still is too close to not having a future. Beautiful photo of spent flora on snow- so still...Oh wait, not still- dead.
I do so love Neruda -- something about the directness, the intimacy of his words engages my heart. And just wanted to say that the last few posts have been lovely, both word-wise and in the choice of images. So winter wonderful.
then golden west get going!!!! i hope you've had a fun day!! steven
hey linda sue - i think that finding a time a place to be still is hugely valuable - the older i get (53 this year) the more i know that to be true for myself. however! i love to be doing - the things that are in my profile - and so it wouldn't be me advocating stillness. nope!!! get at it. grab life for all it's worth! here it is. go and do it!!! steven
hello meri - i also like the warmth of his writing. it's like he's thinking out loud and right there! i like that very much. thankyou for your nice compliment. i'm really glad to be able to bring goodness to you. steven
"I like to be still.." perfect. Still is pregnant with meaning and possiblility. Rest now but definitely lots to do and think about later!
this is beautiful...how do you find these wonderful words!!! i am having a real problem being still at the moment....but i long for it. thank you steven for making me sit at least long enough to read this!!xx Kay
I don't know this one. It is too much to take in . . . but in a good way. I'd like to come back tomorrow and read it again.
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