Pablo Neruda ( ) Love

Love

Woman, I have become your son drinking
your breasts’ milk as if from a spring,
by watching you, feeling you by my side and having you
in the smile of gold and the voice of crystal.

Feeling you in my veins like God in the rivers
and adoring you in the sad bones of dust and lime,
as you passed beside me without pain,
and left in the strophe – clean of everything bad -.

…How would I know to love you, woman, how would I know
to love you, love you as nobody knew never before.
Dying and still
loving you more.
And still
loving you more
and more.

Translated by Ravi Kopra

*****

Original in Spanish:

Amor

MUJER, YO HUBIERA sido tu hijo, por beberte
la leche de los senos como de un manantial,
por mirarte y sentirte a mi lado y tenerte
en la risa de oro y la voz de cristal.

Por sentirte en mis venas como Dios en los ríos
y adorarte en los tristes huesos de polvo y cal,
porque tu ser pasara sin, pena al lado mío,
y saliera en la estrofa —limpio de todo mal—.

... Cómo sabría amarte, mujer como sabría
amarte, amarte como nadie supo jamás.
Morir y todavía
amarte más.
Y todavía
amarre más
y más.

Darling, I still remember

Darling, I still remember
That spring morning,
Camping in woods we went
To the brook to fetch water,
And sat there on a boulder,
Watching the sun to rise
Beyond the birch trees;
As the sunbeams came
From crimson skies
Through the tall trees,
Touching our face,
Shining in our eyes,
You leaned against me
And kissed me, and I
Embraced you tight
In my arms and said:
Sweetheart, I love you.

Chinlee, my sweet darling

Chinlee, my sweet darling,
Another spring has come.
Cherry blossoms are everywhere.
Swallows clamour in the air.
Ducks dive in ponds with their ducklings
And the doves coo-coo with their mates.
Here I am walking by the Yangtze river
Under the full moon. I’m now to the second
Bottle of red cherry wine I bought from Yu Ding,
The Zen master, a mile up the river.
I’m missing you my darling and Kwa Ming
My little son born a year ago in spring.
I’m lonely. There’s no company.
I ask the moon to be my friend.
But she shies away.

Note: On reading Chinese poetry translated
by Kenneth Rexborth and others.

Today I saw him in the fog

The spiritual guru with glib tongue
Passed away yesterday.
Thousands came to the burial grounds
To see his casket lowered
Into the pit in the ground.
Many said he went to heaven.

Today I saw him in the fog
Moving around so confused.
I asked why he was there,
We thought he went to heaven.

“Gates were shut,” he said.
He had sent so many there,
There was no place for him.

Note: On reading Yi Sha’s Chinese poem
Up, Up And Away in English translation by
Simon Patton.

Rafael Patino ( ) A Colombian Poet. Village of Delerium

Who says oh so sovereign smooth tongue,
I will not tell you a verb without a head,
But a loud and harsh howl,
Hatched in the silence’s slab.
So when your room beheads
The wind in the window,
You go to the village of delirium.
The syllable flies filled with the mint of your voice
And from my penis you drink white lava
With the incarnate gluttony of your Adam’s apple.

*****

Original in Spanish:

Aldea del Delirio

Quién dice lengua oh vellón soberano,
No te diré un verbo acéfalo
Pero un ronco ulular
Se incuba en la losa del silencio
Así cuando tu cuarto degüella al viento
En tu ventana
Tú vas hasta la aldea del delirio,
Vuela la sílaba rellena con la menta de tu voz
Y bebes la blanca lava de mi verga
Con la encarnada glotonería de tu nuez

~ Rafael Patino

Sometime I get swayed

Sometime I get swayed
By what people write or say,
Be it a poem or a story.

I want to know them.
I want to be like them.
I fancy soaring to skies.

Ground underneath my feet
I feel slipping away.
I get scared.

And then I hear my mom:
Where there’s a will
There’s a way.

Next moment I hear my dad:
Junior, be careful.
Mountains look so beautiful
When they are far away.

It was biological

When someone becomes
Philosophical and asks the age
Old question: why is he here?

I tell him:
Ask your mama,
Ask your papa.

It was biological.

And when he wonders:
What is the purpose of his life?
I tell him:

Ask yourself.
Don’t be a fool.
Live your life.

Dear Love... A Letter to His Wife

Dear Love,
You with broken bones
Are lying in bed
In the bone healing ward.

I here with tired soul
Am lying in bed
In the psycho ward.

I am not crazy, my dear.
I only say things
They do not understand

And drug me day and night,
Saying I’m crazy in mind.
This morning I flushed the pills

Down the toilet drain and
I'm now with lucid mind.
If I die before you die

I want to let you know,
You had kept me from
Falling apart all my life.

Please write this on my
Tombstone, if you will:
Here lies the most misunderstood

Man in the world. He loved
Everyone in his heart. But
Everyone turned against him.

O dad! please don’t tell mom

O dad! please don’t tell mom,
Don’t tell her doctor
She forgets things.

Don’t you forget
Where you park your
Car in the lot of mall?

Don’t you forget
What you had for breakfast?
And you call Jessie, Samuel
And Samuel you call Jessie.

Mom is fine
And so are you.
Love her, we all love you.

She has no Alzheimer’s.
She loves you so much,
She forgets things.

Darling, I would love to be with you

Darling, I would love to be with you
To share moments of pleasure,
To reflect on the nature of world,
To lie down on sun drenched beaches,
To hike on mountain trails,
To stop by a gurgling brook
To hold you in my arms,
To caress you and give you a kiss.
To see the foreign lands with you
And too, to sit in my garden with you
To watch the finches, robins,
Blue jays and cardinals,
Feasting on peaches
And cherries I planted.

I would like to read poetry to you,
sitting in the cool spring evening
in the rose garden I planted for you.
I would make a bouquet of long stem
Pink, yellow and red roses for you,
Pour red wine in your goblet
And munch crackers and crunch
On celery sticks dipped into
Blue cheese layerd with
Fresh cilantro leaves and mace,
while listening to Mozart
and Vivaldi in the background.

I would love to see you smile,
I would love to see you forget
All worries and be in the moment,
Sharing peace and pleasure
In my humble company.

Hey hoo!.... hoo hoo!

On Lohri day
In Punjab, Panipat,
Sonya and Lagpat,
Sat with their friends
Surrounding the flaming fires.

They ate popcorn with gur.
They relished sesame-candy.
They exchanged hugs and handshakes
With friends, and sang songs of love.
They went on dancing gidha and bhangra
Till early hours of dawn:
“Hey, hey, you handsome one
Hey, hey, you chieftain's son.
Hey hey, you beautiful one,
You are fair as the shining sun.
Hey hoo!.... hoo hoo!
Hoo hoo!.... hey hoo!”

Note: Gur is raw, brown solid sugar.
Gidha and bhangra are Punjabi dances.

I can see and feel love

Don’t screw my head, my darling
With philosophies of love.
I want to share my life with you.
I want to share all I have with you.
I care for you, my darling
And that for me is love.

Don’t screw my head, my dear
With philosophies of love.
Don’t tell me beyond time
And space lies true love.
I love you, my darling,
True romance for me is love.

Don’t screw your head, sweetheart
With philosophies of love.
Let loonies screw their heads
With philosophies of love.
I love caring romantic love,
I don’t care for spiritual love.

Don’t screw my head, my lover.
I love you, and if you love me
Tell me simply so.
I am an ordinary woman,
I can see and feel love.
I don’t care for philosophies of love.

Why should he love you forever?

If he loved you once,
Why should he love you forever?
Does anything last forever?

Do palaces not go into ruins?
Do armadas not sink in oceans?
Do riches not turn to rags?

If someone loves you no more,
Will heavens burst and fall?
You may not be worth him

He may not be worth you.
What you thought was gold,
Was perhaps fool’s gold.

Get on with your life.
If you love yourself,
Someone will surely love you.