III
Mi muchacha salvaje, hemos tenido
My wild girl, we have had
que recobrar el tiempo
to regain time
y marchar hacia atrás, en la distancia
and march backward, in the distance
de nuestras vidas, beso a beso.
of our lives, kiss after kiss.
recogiendo de un sitio lo que dimos
gathering from one place what we gave
sin alegría, descubriendo en otro
without joy, discovering in another
el camino secreto
the secret road
que iba acercando tus pies a los míos,
that gradually brought your feet close to mine,
y así bajo mi boca
and so beneath my mouth
vuelves a ver la planta insatifecha
you see again the unfulfilled blossom
de tu vida alargando sus raíces
of your life putting out its roots
hacia mi corazón que te esperaba.
toward my heart that was waiting for you.
Y una a una las noches
And one by one the nights
entre nuestras ciudades separadas
between our separated cities
se agregan a la noche que nos une.
are joined to the night that unites us.
La luz de cada día,
The light of each day,
su llama o su reposo,
its flame or its repose,
nos entregan, sacándolos del tiempo,
they deliver to us, taking them from time,
y así se desentierra
en la sombra o la luz nuestro tesoro
and so our treasure
is disinterred in shadow or light
y así besan la vida nuestros besos:
and so our kisses kiss life:
todo el amor en nuestro amor se encierra:
all love is enclosed in our love:
toda la sed termina en nuestro abrazo.
all thirst ends in our embrace.
Aquí estamos al fin frente a frente,
Here we are at last face to face,
nos hemos encontrado,
we have met,
nos hemos perdido nada.
we have lost nothing.
Nos hemos recorrido labio a labio,
We have felt each other lip to lip,
hemos cambiado mil veces
we have changed a thousand times
entre nosotros la muerte y la vida,
between us death and life,
todo lo que traíamos
all that we were bringing
como muerta medallas
like dead medals
lo echamos al fondo del mar,
we threw to the bottom of the sea,
todo lo que aprendimos
all that we learned
no nos sirvió de nada:
was of no use to us:
comenzamos de nuevo,
we begin again,
terminamos de nuevo
we end again
muerte y vida.
death and life.
Y aquí sobrevivimos,
And here we survive,
puros, con la pureza que nosotros creamos,
pure, with the purity that we created,
más anchos que la tierra que no pudo extraviarnos,
broader than the earth that could not lead us astray
eternos como el fuego que arderá
eternal as the fire that will burn
cuanto dure la vida.
as long as life endures.
–Pablo Neruda, Love Poems
I was walking under the Full Moon tonight, and Jupiter Rx opposite Regulus, wandering, as the Sun wonders from Leo into Virgo… lamenting, reminiscing, lamenting, wonder*ful, awe*full, you know…just when I came upon a little street library (you know? Like a birdhouse but with books inside, where presumably the fae sometimes play when we’re not looking too too closely or boastfully with our skeptical magic-denouncing human glares blisslessly unaware?) I always check, but usually I discover no books meant for me. I have many many books and I like to leave them for others to discover, so that’s no slight to this particular little streetside library. This time there was a bilingual copy of “Love Poems,” quite dampened by something, presumably my unsung tears; and in my opinion a real book of love poems ought to be, at least, bi lingual, so my heart was won over quickly when I opened it to this verse (which ironically is two-thirds down a page which began… “the drenched distances” …las distancias mojadas). I typed this out by hand from the book because–one must, under such circumstances, don’t you think? I don’t speak enough Spanish not to want to learn, and yearn. The translation is not mine, but I did change one word, I did. Apologies for any imperfections! If I may be to blame, I may. Pablo Neruda, born under the New Moon and a striking conjunction of the Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus in Cancer. July 12, 1904. Truth be told, this symbolism was meant for me and I cannot explain it any further. Nalunaikkutaq. Oh, my wild girl, how I miss thee. And have you gone to where the wild things are?
✨
Will you come back, someday soon?
