“Amor"So many days, oh so many daysseeing you so tangible and so close,how do I pay, with what do I pay?The bloodthirsty springhas awakened in the woods.The foxes start from their earths,the serpents drink the dew,and I go with you in the leavesbetween the pines and the silence,asking myself how and whenI will have to pay for my luck.Of everything I have seen,it's you I want to go on seeing:of everything I've touched,it's your flesh I want to go on touching.I love your orange laughter.I am moved by the sight of you sleeping.What am I to do, love, loved one?I don't know how others loveor how people loved in the past.I live, watching you, loving you.Being in love is my nature.You please me more each afternoon.Where is she? I keep on askingif your eyes disappear.How long she's taking! I think, and I'm hurt.I feel poor, foolish and sad,and you arrive and you are lightningglancing off the peach trees.That's why I love you and yet not why.There are so many reasons, and yet so few,for love has to be so,involving and general,particular and terrifying,joyful and grieving,flowering like the stars,and measureless as a kiss.That's why I love you and yet not why.There are so many reasons, and yet so few,for love has to be so,involving and general,particular and terrifying,joyful and grieving,flowering like the stars,and measureless as a kiss.”

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About Pablo Neruda

Chilean poet, diplomat and politician

Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician. He won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature, and became known as a poet at 13. His work ranged widely, from surrealist poems and historical epics to political manifestos and a prose autobiography. He is also known for passionate love poetry, including the poems in Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, published in 1924.

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Books by Pablo Neruda

Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada

1969

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Confieso que he vivido

2001

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Memorial de Isla Negra

1982

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Canto general

1968

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