where I does not exist, nor you

Love Sonnet #17

Pablo Neruda

read by the Malis...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKjzEHqPHQs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKjzEHqPHQs

edit: adding the English text, a friend just sent to me...

*

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrows of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers.

Thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you strightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

-Pablo Neruda