pablo

If only Tanja could respond herself to all of you wonderful people, whose hearts are filled with so much warmth, compassion, and the joy knowing her. You have all given her a new stage in the corridors of your memories and the platform of your hearts. I would like to bring to you all a poem by Pablo Neruda – one of the most beautiful love poems ever written. I am forwarding it for Tanja, hoping that it is alright with her.

I 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.