One Hundred Love Sonnets [Sonnet XVII]

by Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)














I don't love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain dark things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
and thanks to your love the tight aroma that rose
from the earth lives in my body in darkness.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I don't know any other way to love

except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your eyes close with my dreams.


This is a poem by my favourite Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda. Known for his love poems, I like the central idea of this poem that it is just so hard to put into words why you love someone. Irony is at play when the speaker actually describes how, ignoring and opposing traditional cliches/metaphors that stress on tangible and beautiful things. I guess love is what you feel, unconditional, and it transcends everything.

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