With the great discussion about sonnets, I thought I'd put this in here. This is one of Pablo Neruda's love sonnets. I've included the Spanish, for those who hablan.
I did not hold your night, or your air, or the dawn:
only the earth, the truth of the fruit in clusters,
the apples that swell as they drink the sweet water,
the clay and the resins of your sweet-smelling land.
From Quinchamali where your eyes began
to the Frontera where your feet were made for me,
you are my dark familiar clay:
holding your hips, I hold the wheat in its fields again.
Woman from Aruaco, maybe you didn't know
how before I loved you I forgot your kisses,
but my heart went on, remembering your mouth--and I went on
and on through the streets like a man wounded,
until I understood, Love: I had found
my place, a land of kisses and volcanoes.
En Espanol
No te toque la noche ni el aire ni la aurora,
solo la tierra, la virtud de los racimos,
las manzanas que crecen oyendo el agua pura,
el barro y las resinas de tu pais fragante.
Desde Quinchamali donde hicieron tus ojos
hasta tus pies creados para mi en la Frontera
eres la greda oscura que conozco:
en tus caderas toco de nuevo todo el trigo.
Tal vez tu no sabias, araucana,
que cuando antes de amarte me olvide de tus besos
mi corazon quedo recordando tu boca
y fui como un herido por las calles
hasta que comprendi que habia encontrado,
amor, mi terrotorio de besos y volcanes.
I did not hold your night, or your air, or the dawn:
only the earth, the truth of the fruit in clusters,
the apples that swell as they drink the sweet water,
the clay and the resins of your sweet-smelling land.
From Quinchamali where your eyes began
to the Frontera where your feet were made for me,
you are my dark familiar clay:
holding your hips, I hold the wheat in its fields again.
Woman from Aruaco, maybe you didn't know
how before I loved you I forgot your kisses,
but my heart went on, remembering your mouth--and I went on
and on through the streets like a man wounded,
until I understood, Love: I had found
my place, a land of kisses and volcanoes.
En Espanol
No te toque la noche ni el aire ni la aurora,
solo la tierra, la virtud de los racimos,
las manzanas que crecen oyendo el agua pura,
el barro y las resinas de tu pais fragante.
Desde Quinchamali donde hicieron tus ojos
hasta tus pies creados para mi en la Frontera
eres la greda oscura que conozco:
en tus caderas toco de nuevo todo el trigo.
Tal vez tu no sabias, araucana,
que cuando antes de amarte me olvide de tus besos
mi corazon quedo recordando tu boca
y fui como un herido por las calles
hasta que comprendi que habia encontrado,
amor, mi terrotorio de besos y volcanes.
