flights of passion..

i was flipping through some poetry today.. by chance.. after a very hectic day when all i feel is i have had enough.. i just wanted to forget life and die a glorious death.. and i realized that i was not keen on poetry anymore.. i read through all the major ones.. byron.. shelley.. keats.. browning.. it was all too complicated... given my mood, i started wondering how i ever thought i was into poetry... till i reached neruda.. neruda.. the greatest poet ever.. he didn't even write in english i think.. if he did, how exotic would it have been? or maybe it's because he did not write in english that his poetry doesn't feel forced.. it's so natural.. a beautiful expression of a priceless thought... some samples below: 


"I remembered you with my soul clenched
in that sadness of mine that you know.

Where were you then?
Who else was there?
Saying what?
Why will the whole of love come on me suddenly
when I am sad and feel you are far away?"


"I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving

but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close."

i was introduced to neruda through a friend.. and i am so thankful for it.. it shows that there are at least a few other people out there, who fancy themselves, at least in private of having intense emotions.. and while i consider myself a light, giggly type person whose vices are indolence and indifference, i also have flights of depth.. and intensity which scare me.. and that's when i love neruda.. for he shows me that there are others like me.. who can feel as intensely...  

m