"Love"

Poet Pablo Neruda's poem "Love" was featured in the acclaimed Italian film of 1996 entitled Il Postino (The Postman). Here is an English translation of that poem:

By Pablo Neruda

Because of you, in gardens of blossoming flowers I ache from the
perfumes of spring.
   I have forgotten your face, I no longer remember your hand:
how did your lips feel on mine?
   Because of you, I love the white statues drowsing in the parks,
the white statues that have neither voice nor sight.
   I have forgotten your voice, your happy voice; I have forgotten
your eyes.
   Like a flower to its perfume, I am bound to my vague memory of
you. I live with pain that is like a wound; if you touch me, you will
do me irreperable harm.
   Your caresses enfold me, like climbing vines on melancholy walls.
   I have forgotten your love, yet I seem to glimpse you in every
window.
  Because of you, the heady perfumes of summer pain me; because
of you, I again seek out the signs that precipitate desires: shooting
stars, falling objects.

From Passions and Impressions
copyright © 1978 by the Estate of Pablo Neruda
Translation by Margaret Sayers Peden

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