On the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month SuperForester Jordan “rediscovers” a literary gem from the vast treasure trove of an art form that, in our technological age, has become largely under-appreciated and “lost”.
My theme for this month is LOVE. Why? Because it is my favorite theme. And when it comes to Love, to the wide, vast complex world and web of emotions that the love spider spins in this world, and the ways it can and does touch each and every one of us in some profound way… well to me, no one else can quite capture in words all that Love is, means, can be and can do… than Pablo Neruda.
Chilean born, Neruda was and still is considered one of the greatest Poets of his or any age. Here he is pictured with his third wife, and the love of his life, Matilda. To whom he wrote and dedicated what I think is, like the Taj Mahal, one of the greatest monuments to Love ever created — “Cien Sonetos de Amor”.
The book is just that, 100, 14 line poems, each on the subject of love, all dedicated to his wife Matilda. They are simple, beautiful, romantic, profound, heart-wrenching, heart-breaking, heart-aching works of art. I can only post one here, but I urge you to read them all.
| Sonnet XVII: Love |
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. -- Pablo Neruda
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