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A review by smolbean_reads
Selected Poems of Pablo Neruda by Nathaniel Tarn, Pablo Neruda
5.0
'Every day you play with the light of the universe.
Subtle visitor, you arrive in the flower and the water.
You are more than this white head that I hold tightly
as a cluster of fruit, every day, between my hands' -
from Every Day You Play
500 pages of the most beautifully written poetry. Right from the early days of his sexy, dark, whimsical, complex poetry to the more relaxed reflection style in later years. A wonderful mix of romantic poetry, life ponderings and travel. I really love that he often draws on his experience of living by the sea and by a pine forest, making for very dreamy prose inspired by mother nature. It helped get me through a very emotionally bumpy 6 months. Also good to have the original Spanish versions alongside the English because I could test myself on my Spanish vocabulary knowledge!
Extract from The Marine Night (its 3 pages of beautifulness)
Marine night, white and green statue,
I love you: sleep with me. I went through all
the streets, disintegrating and dying,
the wood grew with me, man
vanquished his ashes and got ready
to rest surrounded by the earth.
Night fell so that your eyes
might not see his wretched repose:
desiring to be close, he opened his arms
guarded by beings and walls,
and fell into the dream of silence, descending
with his roots into funeral land.
I, Oceanic night, arrived with the love that makes me,
and reached your open form, the vastness that Aldebaran
watches over, the wet mouth of your song.
I saw you, night of the sea, as you were born,
bruised by infinite mother-of-pearl:
I watched the starry threads weaving
and the electricity of your girdle
and the blue motion of the sounds
that harass your devoured sweetness.
Subtle visitor, you arrive in the flower and the water.
You are more than this white head that I hold tightly
as a cluster of fruit, every day, between my hands' -
from Every Day You Play
500 pages of the most beautifully written poetry. Right from the early days of his sexy, dark, whimsical, complex poetry to the more relaxed reflection style in later years. A wonderful mix of romantic poetry, life ponderings and travel. I really love that he often draws on his experience of living by the sea and by a pine forest, making for very dreamy prose inspired by mother nature. It helped get me through a very emotionally bumpy 6 months. Also good to have the original Spanish versions alongside the English because I could test myself on my Spanish vocabulary knowledge!
Extract from The Marine Night (its 3 pages of beautifulness)
Marine night, white and green statue,
I love you: sleep with me. I went through all
the streets, disintegrating and dying,
the wood grew with me, man
vanquished his ashes and got ready
to rest surrounded by the earth.
Night fell so that your eyes
might not see his wretched repose:
desiring to be close, he opened his arms
guarded by beings and walls,
and fell into the dream of silence, descending
with his roots into funeral land.
I, Oceanic night, arrived with the love that makes me,
and reached your open form, the vastness that Aldebaran
watches over, the wet mouth of your song.
I saw you, night of the sea, as you were born,
bruised by infinite mother-of-pearl:
I watched the starry threads weaving
and the electricity of your girdle
and the blue motion of the sounds
that harass your devoured sweetness.