Pablo Neruda Expresses My Feelings of Love Perfectly, Thank God for Him!

Since I'm not a poet, like mere mortals, I had to borrow lines from a real poet, just to express what I wanted to say to this person, just so I can capture that moment when I realized I was really in love with him. Emo ang lola mo!

There's no feeling kasi like being in love and that night, in my entry, I just wanted to capture that feeling like those messages in a bottle, para pagtanda ko, maremember ko na naging tao rin pala ako nuong kabataan ko.

So anyway, I want to share the poem to all of you just in case some of you are in that moment too, when you are in the cusp of realizing that you really love that person too.

I sent the poem to him in Spanish because he was Spanish and the poet wrote in Spanish, but I am posting it here in English and the translation is just as good!

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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.

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As for the poet, just ask your ate or kuya, who's one of the greatest love poets of the 20th century? And he wrote so many, andami mong pagpipilian depending on what stage na kayo sa relationship nyo!

Enjoying A Neruda Sonnet

My friend posted a snippet of this Pablo Neruda sonnet on her wall for her husband last night.  It was in English, of course, but since I have several Hispanohablantes en mi FB, I decided to post the original Spanish version of the poem. 

Read and weep at how elegant he uses the words do describe the imagery!

Disfrutad mis amigos!

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Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,

sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.

Enjoying Pablo Neruda's Poems Now That I Can Understand Spanish!

Definitely one of the advantages of being able to comprender espanol is that I can now read Pablo Neruda!  How cool is that!  It's really true how a lot of the rhythm and cadence gets lost in translation once the poem is read in English.  If you're an English speaker, you can get the message but you lose the music of the poem.  Spanish is so compact in how it expresses something, and it's more voluptuous in how it respects its vowels and pronouns.  Just delectable!

A mis amigos espanoles hablantes, que te diviertas!

Me gustas cuando callas
by Pablo Neruda

Me gustas cuando callas porque estás como ausente,
y me oyes desde lejos, y mi voz no te toca.
Parece que los ojos se te hubieran volado
y parece que un beso te cerrara la boca.

Como todas las cosas están llenas de mi alma
emerges de las cosas, llena del alma mía.
Mariposa de sueño, te pareces a mi alma,
y te pareces a la palabra melancolía.

Me gustas cuando callas y estás como distante.
Y estás como quejándote, mariposa en arrullo.
Y me oyes desde lejos, y mi voz no te alcanza:
déjame que me calle con el silencio tuyo.

Déjame que te hable también con tu silencio
claro como una lámpara, simple como un anillo.
Eres como la noche, callada y constelada.
Tu silencio es de estrella, tan lejano y sencillo.

Me gustas cuando callas porque estás como ausente.
Distante y dolorosa como si hubieras muerto.
Una palabra entonces, una sonrisa bastan.
Y estoy alegre, alegre de que no sea cierto.

I Like For You to be Still by Pablo Neruda

I Like For You to be Still
by Pablo Neruda

I like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent,
and you hear me from far away and my voice does not touch you.
It seems as though your eyes had flown away
and it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth.

As all things are filled with my soul
you emerge from the things, filled with my soul.
You are like my soul, a butterfly of dream,
and you are like the word Melancholy.

I like for you to be still, and you seem far away.
It sounds as though you were lamenting, a butterfly cooing like a dove.
And you hear me from far away, and my voice does not reach you:
Let me come to be still in your silence.

And let me talk to you with your silence
that is bright as a lamp, simple as a ring.
You are like the night, with its stillness and constellations.
Your silence is that of a star, as remote and candid.

I like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent,
distant and full of sorrow as though you had died.
One word then, one smile, is enough.
And I am happy, happy that it's not true.