“Body of a woman, white hills, white thighs,you look like a world, lying in surrender.My rough peasant's body digs in youand makes the son leap from the depth of the earth.I was lone like a tunnel. The birds fled from me,and nigh swamped me with its crushing invasion.To survive myself I forged you like a weapon,like an arrow in my bow, a stone in my sling.But the hour of vengeance falls, and I love you.Body of skin, of moss, of eager and firm milk.Oh the goblets of the breast! Oh the eyes of absence!Oh the roses of the pubis! Oh your voice, slow and sad!Body of my woman, I will persist in your grace.My thirst, my boundless desire, my shifting road!Dark river-beds where the eternal thirst flowsand weariness follows, and the infinite ache.”

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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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