Late-Night Poetry Reading

For months now, I have had a few words of a poem floating around in my head.  I have known they were part of some poem that I heard a few years ago, but couldn't remember any more of the details.  I remember thinking, when I first heard it, that the poem was particularly touching.  But, every time these words would come to mind lately, I wasn't near a computer or a library or a bookstore or anyplace where I could research what poem they were from.  Well, tonight the words came to me again, as I was sitting here in bed with my laptop in front of me.  I found the poem whose words have floated around fragmented in my head for so long now.  As it turns out, the poem was written by a rather prolific author and former Nobel Prize (Literature) winner.  I've read through many of his other works tonight, and find that I rather like them all!  So, as I have a favorite poet for the first time, I thought I'd share, here, the touching piece that brought me to discover his work.

I do not love you as if you were a 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.

~Pablo Neruda [Love Sonnet XVII from 100 Love Sonnets]

It was this line that has stayed with me all this time:  "I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where."

Isn't that the nature of love, perfectly put into words?  When you truly love someone, it's a feeling that is completely unexplainable.  It's a feeling that is with you all the time.  It becomes a part of you and a part of everything you do.  It becomes a factor in the way you make decisions and live your life.  Love changes you.