Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential poets of the 20th century, celebrated for his lyrical and evocative verse, which often explored themes of love, nature, politics, and everyday life. Neruda's prolific output and diverse thematic concerns earned him international acclaim, culminating in the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971. His work is characterized by its passionate imagery, sensuous language, and profound connection to the landscapes and people of Latin America.

1904-07-12 Parral, Chile
1973-09-23 Santiago, Chile
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From – Twenty Poems of Love

From – Twenty Poems of Love

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.
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See also



Awards and Movements

Nobel 1971Surrealism

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