vanilla_scented_shirt_in_the_dumpster rt From – Twenty Poems of Love     I can write the saddest lines tonight. Write for example: ‘The night is fractured and they shiver, blue, those stars, in the distance’ The night wind turns in the sky and sings. I can write the saddest lines tonight. I loved her, sometimes she loved me too. On nights like these I held her in my arms. I kissed her greatly under the infinite sky. She loved me, sometimes I loved her too. How could I not have loved her huge, still eyes. I can write the saddest lines tonight. To think I don’t have her, to feel I have lost her. Hear the vast night, vaster without her. Lines fall on the soul like dew on the grass. What does it matter that I couldn’t keep her. The night is fractured and she is not with me. That is all. Someone sings far off. Far off, my soul is not content to have lost her. As though to reach her, my sight looks for her. My heart looks for her: she is not with me The same night whitens, in the same branches. We, from that time, we are not the same. I don’t love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her. My voice tried to find the breeze to reach her. Another’s kisses on her, like my kisses. Her voice, her bright body, infinite eyes. I don’t love her, that’s certain, but perhaps I love her. Love is brief: forgetting lasts so long. Since, on these nights, I held her in my arms, my soul is not content to have lost her. Though this is the last pain she will make me suffer, and these are the last lines I will write for her. Pablo Neruda 090224 ... unhinged when i met jane, her and stork daddy took me to city lights bookstore in sf. there is a whole floor of poetry there *swoon* and i pulled some neruda off the shelf (there was a sizable neruda section there), and nudged her with it. noah sent me that exact poem over instant messenger long years ago. when i still fell in love at the drop of a hat, that was a potent message. or i bought a copy of 20 love poems and a song of despair (sic) and i was reading it during one of the interminable masterclasses in the summer chamber music camp i went to here before i moved here and pedro swooned. 'you are reading neruda?' he peeked at the page, spanish on the left, english on the right. 'that translation is no good.' i looked at him 'that's what i hear.' the introduction of my particular copy talked about how hard it is to convey the original beauty of neruda. i bought also a copy of '100 love sonnets'. one in particular reminded me of her. i wrote it out for her. as she read it, her eyes melted a little 'you wrote it out in spanish.' 'of course i did. i hear neruda is better in spanish.' one of the last projects we conceived as a band was playing some flamenco-style music and using neruda as lyrics. my copy of 20 love poems and a song of despair is still on his bookshelf. 090224 ... cr0wl awesome story, nicole...lost in translation, but still emotional. 090224 ... unhinged just another reason why i should learn spanish; i've always been in love with translations of neruda. i can't imagine them being any more beautiful. maybe my heart would burst. or sitting at the table during honors orchestra rereading 20 love songs for the countless time. kiju walked by and cooed in a typically korean way 'oooohhh; you are reading neruda' it was probably the first time i smiled all day 'yeah, i am.' 'i'll leave you alone then' 090224 what's it to you? who go blather from