Pablo Neruda

Tonight I had a caller from Colombia who told me that his favourite author was Pablo Neruda. In his broken English he told me, "In youth, I...how do you say, I liked to conquer..uh, the girls..." I immediately knew what he meant and said, "Reciting some of Pablo's poems will definitely get you in with the ladies." He laughed knowingly. It's so true. Oh how I wish men today would speak like Neruda did... Here is one of the most beautiful of all his poems:

Love Sonnet XI

Tengo hambre de tu boca, de tu voz, de tu pelo
Y por las calles voy sin nutrirme, callado,
No me sostiene el pan, el alba me desquicia,
Busco el sonido líquido de tus pies en el día.

Estoy hambriento de tu risa resbalada,
De tus manos color de furioso granero,
Tengo hambre de la pálida piedra de tus uñas,
Quiero comer tu piel como una intacta almendra.

Quiero comer el rayo quemado en tu hermosura,
La nariz soberana del arrogante rostro,
Quiero comer la sombra fugaz de tus pestañas

Y hambriento vengo y voy olfateando el crepúsculo
Buscándote, buscando tu corazón caliente
Como un puma en la soledad de Quitratúe.

in English:

I hunger for your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.