I Like For You To Be Still

Of course this translation does no right to it's original form... like Danielek said, "Me gustas cuando callas porque estás como ausente" can never be "I like for you to be still, it is as though you are absent" it gives it a different meaning... it just doesn't work.

Poema XV: Me gustas cuando callas...

Me gustas cuando callas porque estás como ausente,
y me oyes desde lejos, y mi voz no te toca.
Parece que los ojos se te hubieran volado
y parece que un beso te cerrara la boca.

Como todas las cosas están llenas de mi alma
emerges de las cosas, llena del alma mía.
Mariposa de sueño, te pareces a mi alma,
y te pareces a la palabra melancolía.

Me gustas cuando callas y estás como distante.
Y estás como quejándote, mariposa en arrullo.
Y me oyes desde lejos, y mi voz no te alcanza:
déjame que me calle con el silencio tuyo.

Déjame que te hable también con tu silencio
claro como una lámpara, simple como un anillo.
Eres como la noche, callada y constelada.
Tu silencio es de estrella, tan lejano y sencillo.

Me gustas cuando callas y estás como ausente.
Distante y dolorosa como si hubieras muerto.
Una palabra entonces, una sonrisa bastan.
Y estoy alegre, alegre de que no sea cierto.

--Pablo Neruda. Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada.

No cabe duda que el español sigue siendo el lenguaje más rico y bello del mundo... :)

This could be a triple-entendre. He doesn't exactly say "I like it when you LIE still" but that is an insinuation as well.

But a married man (no, I'm not) would recognize this carefully-worded request. Google translated it in the direct terms he's probably thinking:

>Poem XV: I like when you shut up...
>...and seems that a kiss closed your mouth.

Then our married man qualifies - uh, backtracks "I didn't mean that" - as a properly-trained married man should do:

>...and painful as if you had died.

But gets the last word by cajoling "Enough, already!":

>One word then, One smile is enough
>And I'm happy;

And now we hear his wife, hurt, saying "You want me to play dead?"
(Or more ominously "You better not tell me to shut up, you $%^%$".
And he again clarifies/qualifies - uh, backtracks:

>Happy that it's not true

I like for you to be still: it is as though you are absent
and you hear me from far away，and my voice does not touch you.
It seems as through your eyes had flown away
and it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth
我喜欢你是静静的：仿佛你消失了一样
你从远处聆听我，我的声音却无法触及你
好像你的目光已经游离而去
如同一个吻，封缄了你的嘴

as all things are filled with my soul
your emerge from the things, fill with my soul
you are like my soul, a butterfly of dreams
and you are like the word melancholy
如同我积满一切的灵魂
而你从一切中出现，充盈了我的灵魂
你像我的灵魂，像一只梦想的蝴蝶
你如同“忧郁”这个词

I like for you to be still, and you seem far away
It sounds as though you are lamenting, a butterfly cooing like a dove
And you hear me from far away, and my voice does not reach you
Let me come to be still in your silence
我喜欢你是静静的：好像你已远去
你听起来像在悲叹，一只如鸽般细语的蝴蝶
你从远处聆听我，我的声音却无法触及你
让我在你的静谧中安静无声

And let me talk to you with your silence
That is bright like a lamp, simple as a ring
You are like the night, with its stillness and constellations
Your silence is that of a star, as remont and candid
并且让我籍着你的沉默与你说话
你的沉默亮若明灯，简单如环
你如黑夜，拥有寂静与群星
你像我的灵魂，像一只梦想的蝴蝶

I like for you to be still: it is as though you are absent
distant and dull of sorrow, as though you had died
One word then, one smile, is enough
And I’a happy, happy that’s not true
我喜欢你是静静的：仿佛你消失了一样
远隔千里，满怀哀恸，仿佛你已不在人世
彼时，一个字，一个微笑，就已足够
而我会感到幸福，因那不是真的而感到幸福