June 12, 2004
For The Kenj,
From the birthday present she bought me in April,
XL
It was green, the silence; the light was moist;
the month of June trembled like a butterfly;
and you, Matilde, passed through noon,
through the regions of the South, the sea and the stones.
You went carrying your cargo of iron flowers,
seaweed battered and abandoned by the South wind
but your hands, still white, cracked by corrosive salt,
gathered the blooming stalks that grew in the sand.
I love your pure gifts, your skin like whole stones,
your nails, offerings, in the suns of your fingers,
your mouth brimming with all joys.
Oh, in my house beside the abyss, give me
the tormenting structure of that silence,
pavillion of the sea, forgotten in the sand.
Pablo Neruda
XL
Era verde el silencio, mojada era la luz,
temblaba el mes de junio como una mariposa
y en el austral dominio, desde el mar y las piedras,
Matilde, atravesaste el mediodia.
Ibas cargada de flores ferruginosas,
algas que el viento sur atormenta y olvida,
aun blancas, agrietadas por la sal devorante,
tus manos levantaban las espigas de arena.
Amo tus dones puros, tu piel de piedra intacta,
tus unas ofrecidas en el sol de tus dedos,
tu boca derramada por toda la alegria,
pero, para mi casa vecina del abismo,
dame el atormentado sistema del silencio,
el pabellon del mar olvidado en la arena.
Pablo Neruda
Posted by Keeper of the Blog at June 12, 2004 01:34 PM