Sonnet XXVIII by Pablo Neruda

Love, from seed to seed, planet to planet,
the weave of the wind with its dark countries,
war with its shoes of blood,
or even the day and the night of the stake.

Whence did we go, islands or bridges or flags,
violins of the fleeting, bristled autumn,
those lips upon the cup repeated delight,
the pain hindered us with its weeping lesson.

In every republic the wind bloated
its unpunished bell, its frigid mane,
and thereafter the blossom returned to its tasks.

But in us autumn shall never crystallize.
And in our immovable homeland sprouts and grows
a love with the rights of the dew.


Notes: Having found no readily accessible online translation of this poem, one of my favorites, I decided, as all impecunious students should, to translate it myself. I realize that some of the choices I made are unconventional, but I am quite certain that I could defend all of them. Feel free to provide suggestions and criticism for any of my future endeavors in translation.

An Introduction

I have thought long and hard about the possible contents of this blog, especially because all my previous personal pages have been sorely neglected after two entries (MySpace, Xanga). In the past, my fundamental motivation for creating these online journals centered around a sophomoric delusion that someone would care about the dramatic progression of my love life. I can assure you that it is a love life that is quite worth bemoaning, if any of those recent chick flicks are worth millions to produce, but it will be a post for another day.

Instead, this blog will be about more constant passions such as poetry, politics, and places. As such, there will be no cohesive theme (except alliterations, apparently) and I do not expect anyone to follow it. If you happen to enjoy some of the entries, I will be glad. But their purpose will be entirely selfish.

Welcome and enjoy!