greatpoetry | Sonnet 7 by Pablo Neruda

Soneta 7

by Pablo Neruda

"Vendras conmigo" dije -- sin que nadie supiera

donde y como latia mi estado doloroso,

y para mi no habia clavel ni barcarola,

nada sino una herida por el amor abierta.

Repeti: ven conmigo, como si me muriera,

y nadie vio en mi boca la luna que sangraba,

nadie vio aquella sangre que subia al silencio.

O amor ahora olvidemos la estrella con espinas!

Por eso cuando oi que tu voz repetia

"Vendras conmigo" -- fue como si desataras

dolor, amor, la furia del vino encarcelado

que desde su bodega sumergida subiera

y otra vez en mi boca senti un sabor de llama,

de sangre y de claveles, de piedra y quemadura.

"Come with me," I said, and no one knew

where, or how my painful state throbbed,

for me there were no carnations or songs of gondoliers,

nothing but a wound, opened by love.

I repeated: "Come with me," as if I were dying,

and no one saw in my mouth the moon that bled,

no one saw this blood that rose into the silence.

O Love, now we can forget the thorny star!

That is why, when I heard your voice repeat

"Come with me," it was as if you had let loose

the grief, the love, the fury of an imprisoned wine

that rose from your flooded cellar;

and once again in my mouth I felt a taste of flame,

of blood and carnations, of rock and burning.

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