Pablo Neruda [1904-1973]

Neruda recording poems at the U.S. Library of Congress [1966]
ihayat tune: the kooks; naive

Don't go far off...

Don't go far off, not even for a day, because --
because -- I don't know how to say it: a day is long
and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station
when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.

Don't leave me, even for an hour, because then
the little drops of anguish will all run together,
the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift
into me, choking my lost heart.

Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve on the beach;
may your eyelids never flutter into the empty distance.
Don't leave me for a second, my dearest,

because in that moment you'll have gone so far
I'll wander mazily over all the earth, asking,
Will you come back? Will you leave me here, dying?

by Pablo Neruda

funny story: i discovered pablo neruda thru a movie called Bollywood Hollywood; where Sue a.k.a Sunitha recited verses from his poem to the dashing Rahul. The words caught me, and with the power of the net; i was able to drown myself in his poetry ~

Awarded with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, Neruda; Chilean poet, diplomat and communist leader is the most influential poets of the 20th century. His real name is Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto. The pen name Pablo Neruda was derived from Jan Neruda, a Czech writer and poet which later became his legal name. Neruda used this pseudonym so that his father who was against his passion, would not discover that he was a poet.

His first published work was an essay he wrote for the local daily newspaper, at the age of thirteen entitled Enthusiasm and Perseverance. By 1920, he was a published author of poetry, prose, and journalism. When Communism was outlawed in Chile, neruda went into hiding; hidden by supporters and friends and lived his life in exile when he fled over the Andes Mountains to Argentina on horseback, nearly drowning while crossing the Curringue River.

Neruda died of heart failure on September 23, 1973. His funeral took place with a massive police presence, and mourners took advantage of the occasion to protest the Pinochet regime. Neruda's funeral became the first public protest against the Chilean military dictatorship.