I'M Explaining A Few Things Poem by Pablo Neruda

I'M Explaining A Few Things

Rating: 3.7


You are going to ask: and where are the lilacs?
and the poppy-petalled metaphysics?
and the rain repeatedly spattering
its words and drilling them full
of apertures and birds?
I'll tell you all the news.

I lived in a suburb,
a suburb of Madrid, with bells,
and clocks, and trees.

From there you could look out
over Castille's dry face:
a leather ocean.
My house was called
the house of flowers, because in every cranny
geraniums burst: it was
a good-looking house
with its dogs and children.
Remember, Raul?
Eh, Rafel? Federico, do you remember
from under the ground
my balconies on which
the light of June drowned flowers in your mouth?
Brother, my brother!
Everything
loud with big voices, the salt of merchandises,
pile-ups of palpitating bread,
the stalls of my suburb of Arguelles with its statue
like a drained inkwell in a swirl of hake:
oil flowed into spoons,
a deep baying
of feet and hands swelled in the streets,
metres, litres, the sharp
measure of life,
stacked-up fish,
the texture of roofs with a cold sun in which
the weather vane falters,
the fine, frenzied ivory of potatoes,
wave on wave of tomatoes rolling down the sea.

And one morning all that was burning,
one morning the bonfires
leapt out of the earth
devouring human beings --
and from then on fire,
gunpowder from then on,
and from then on blood.
Bandits with planes and Moors,
bandits with finger-rings and duchesses,
bandits with black friars spattering blessings
came through the sky to kill children
and the blood of children ran through the streets
without fuss, like children's blood.

Jackals that the jackals would despise,
stones that the dry thistle would bite on and spit out,
vipers that the vipers would abominate!

Face to face with you I have seen the blood
of Spain tower like a tide
to drown you in one wave
of pride and knives!

Treacherous
generals:
see my dead house,
look at broken Spain :
from every house burning metal flows
instead of flowers,
from every socket of Spain
Spain emerges
and from every dead child a rifle with eyes,
and from every crime bullets are born
which will one day find
the bull's eye of your hearts.

And you'll ask: why doesn't his poetry
speak of dreams and leaves
and the great volcanoes of his native land?

Come and see the blood in the streets.
Come and see
The blood in the streets.
Come and see the blood
In the streets!

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Brian Jani 27 April 2014

Awesome I like this poem, check mine out 

7 30 Reply
Neil Crawford 11 June 2004

It would be useful to know, if not in the original language, who has translated a poem. In this case, I recognise the translation as by Nathaniel Tarn.

25 6 Reply
Putul S 01 October 2009

Superb...what better words to describe the horrors of war than these! !

19 7 Reply
Sharad Kaplingad 12 September 2012

One of the best poems

21 5 Reply
Isaac Buys 06 May 2008

pure genius born out of love as genius always is

18 4 Reply
Ratnakar Mandlik 14 January 2021

The style of narration of a story with minutest details is captivating.

0 1 Reply
Khairul Ahsan 08 September 2020

Poets not only see 'dreams and leaves and the great volcanoes of his native land' but also the 'blood in the streets'! Poets remain true to what they see. An excellente poem deservingly honored as the 'Modern Poem of the Day'!

0 0 Reply
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1 3 Reply
Konab Ghumman 25 November 2019

great poet..wonderful poems...

3 2 Reply
Butch Decatoria 25 September 2019

I love and voted for Pablo.

1 2 Reply
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