Tonight I Can Write - A poem by Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda - Tonight I Can Write

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, 'The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.


translated by W.S. Merwin

Added: on May 21st, 2006 at 11:52 PM | Viewed: 30646 times | Comments (12)

Tonight I Can Write - Comments and Information
Poet: Pablo Neruda Poem: Tonight I Can Write Comment 12 of 12, added on June 27th, 2006 at 10:25 PM. It's a sad and true poem. I always thought I understood it. I've had break ups before and felt longing for the past. But this last time, my girlfriend broke up with me. She began dating someone else. I tried to remain friends with her thinking she might come back. She did love me once. But it was near impossible to spend time with her. She wasn't the same person towards me. It was more as if I was her younger brother. I deleted her phone number after the last time we met. She only lives ten blocks from me but the gap between us is huge. She's gone. I miss her. I want her back and I hate her. Neruda's poem perfectly catches the longing and the heartache as well as the mixed emotions one feels in this situation. Also, this is a great translation of it. gabe from United States Comment 11 of 12, added on June 20th, 2006 at 4:52 PM. one afternoon I've found and read this poem (or maybe it found me,'cause I'm not a poetry fan).I was in a happy relationship back than, but still those verses made me cry."I never want to fill this kind of pain" - went trought my mind in that moment,went trought my heart while looking at my lover. Wish didn't came true. I will only say that it fealt just the way Neruda wrote. And from time to time, when the memories fill my heart with saddness, I open my little white book and reed the poem...in those starry nights Neruda is my only frend,the only one who understands... thank you,Pablo Chris from Croatia Comment 10 of 12, added on May 21st, 2006 at 11:52 PM. I have my own interpretation of this poem, but that is my own, and not what I am writing about. I read something when I was browsing through the comments on my favorite poem which moved me so strongly to respond to it. Comment 1 of 9, "true love can only wish for the beloved's happiness and freedom"....no. This is not human nature. Do not mistaken me, true love does not wish for the beloved's misfortune and harm, but true love DEFINITELY does not wish for the beloved's freedom....TRUE love always wishes that the beloved return, no matter how much time has passed. True love never wishes for the beloved's happiness, not with another as Neruda communicated in this poem, this will always evoke a painfully deep sadness. I have a very hard time believing that someone would wish that a TRUE love would be free and happy with another than with him/herself Adam K. M. Jenkins from Canada More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Tonight I Can Write, has received 12 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Pablo Neruda with others on the Poetry Connection poetry forum!

Poem Info
Tonight I Can Write Last read: 2008-05-16 19:32:20 Viewed 30646 times. Added on May 21st, 2006 at 11:52 PM.

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