From – Twenty Poems Of Love Poem by Pablo Neruda

From – Twenty Poems Of Love

Rating: 4.2


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.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Claudio Nunez 24 December 2007

Hi dear people, even though I find this particular traslation of the poem to be very good there is one inconvenient, the word 'fractured' is a bad tranlation of the word 'estrellada', 'estrellada' means full of stars, though it is truth that it could be used in the other sense (fractured) 'estrellar' like 'crush' is not commonly used with this meaning at least not in Chile and most certainly not in poetry. so re-read the poem thinking that instead of fractured He means a starry night or a starry sky with all the nostalgy that this could evoke. I would not know the adequate translation for this use of the word being english not my first language but surely you will be able to think of a better one. Thanks. Claudio

32 10 Reply
Li Away 26 October 2008

How i love this poem?

25 12 Reply
Viviana Canas 29 June 2009

Pensar que no la tengo. Sentir que la he perdido. I love this poem Spanish, English, Italian version, It does not matter.

27 10 Reply
J. Barrett Wolf 22 July 2008

While this translation is not without merit, I am more fond of W.S. Merwin's translation of this poem - translation is more art than science and it is painful to read the work of some of the translators who altogether lack a poetic understanding of the 'victims' of their interpretation. Merwin translated 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair' and it far exceeds older interpretations of the great man's work.

23 10 Reply
Riel Tizzano 29 May 2008

i love this poem but it's much better in it's original spanish

25 7 Reply
Aya Sunga Askert 03 February 2018

Pablo Neruda could smoothly traverse from surrealist to a romantic poet...that's why I admire him. I love all his sad and happy lines.

0 0 Reply
Mary Skarpathiotaki 13 December 2017

I can write the saddest lines tonight....................sad poetry pretty good by a poet I read...

0 0 Reply
Brian Jani 27 April 2014

Awesome I like this poem, check mine out 

15 5 Reply
Proyon John Gomes 21 September 2013

''My voice tried to find the breeze to reach her'' -pain & love, equally expressed in this line.

16 9 Reply
Putul S 01 October 2009

'love is brief; forgetting lasts so long'...beautifully expressed..

39 10 Reply
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