You know those poets where when their name is merely mentioned your heart flutters because you know that whatever has been written will warm your soul? That’s Pablo Neruda for me – fave poet evs. His words stir me up in such a way that I don’t know whether to smile, laugh, cry or sigh…a dreamy look on my face, wondering when I will have a love like he writes about. He is a master at capturing the essence of love, and articulating it in such a fine way that I feel like I should give up on writing altogether. He’s already nailed it.

Here’s my favorite:

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 know no 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.