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XVII (I do not love you...)
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User Rating: |
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9.5
/10
(159
votes)
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I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
Translated by Stephen Tapscott
Anonymous Submission
Pablo Neruda
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Read poems about / on: thanks, pride, rose, fire, dark, light, love, flower
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Comments about this poem (XVII (I do not love you...)
by
Pablo Neruda
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Pablo Neruda
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Vanessa Goc-ong
(10/17/2009 10:56:00 AM) |
I really love this poem. Love, like life, cannot be fully defined, but Pablo Neruda quite captured it in this poem. Even placed this poem in my wedding invitation.
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RR Romac
(4/8/2008 11:07:00 PM) |
I heard this poem first on a televisoin show being read at a funeral. It was so beautiful I searched for it online knowing only a few of the lines... 'I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride'...
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Tapas Dutta
(4/27/2007 7:36:00 AM) |
so true! 'I love you because I know no other way'
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Gabriel Vanmason
(2/21/2005 1:59:00 AM) |
Truly, one of the most beautiful poems ever written. This poem encompasses the meaning of true love, and what love should be!
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Danny Goh
(2/13/2005 7:50:00 AM) |
Beautifully written.
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