The poem
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Escribir, por ejemplo: 'La noche está estrellada, y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos.'
El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche. Yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso.
En las noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos. La besé tantas veces bajo el cielo infinito.
Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería. Cómo no haber amado sus grandes ojos fijos.
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche. Pensar que no la tengo. Sentir que la he perdido.
Oir la noche inmensa, más inmnesa sin ella. Y el verso cae al alma como al pasto el rocío.
Qué importa que mi amor no pudiera guadarla. La noche está estrellada y ella no está conmigo.
Eso es todo. A lo lejos alguien canta. A lo lejos. Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.
Como para acercarla mi mirada la busca. Mi corazón la busca, y ella no está conmigo.
La misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos árboles. Nosotros, los de entonces, ya no somos los mismos.
Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero cuánto la quise. Mi voz buscaba el viento para tocar su oído.
De otro. Será de otro. Como antes de mis besos. Su voz, su cuerpo claro. Sus ojos infinitos.
Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero. Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.
Porque en noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos, mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.
Aunque éste sea el último dolor que ella me causa, y éstos sean los últimos versos que yo le escribo.
I just wanted to say that this poem really got to me.
The extra point that i would give would be that this poem is in Spanish and it souds even more romantic.
It shows how much she was truly loved though showing how she won't be able to hurt him.
I loved the poem. It was one of the best I've ever read.
I have to say that from the first time I read this poem in my AP Spanish Literature class it became my all time favorite poem. The way he describes his true feelings makes this peom so romantic, just perfect!
it's one of the best, i competeted in a spanish poetry contest and i got third place with this one.
I can only assume that this piece would be more 'far reaching' to its audience, if, and pardon the bastardization - it was offered with a translation, in Enlgish.
Here's the translation, but I don't like it. Translating a poem deprives it from it's original true and deepest meaning. It's just not the same. Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Write, for example, "the night is starry And the stars are blue and shiver in the distance." The night wind revolves in the sky and sings. Tonight I can write the saddest lines. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too. Through…
Read the whole commentHere's the translation, but I don't like it. Translating a poem deprives it from it's original true and deepest meaning. It's just not the same.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Write, for example, "the night is starry
And the stars are blue and shiver in the distance."
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
She loved me; sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have lover her great still eyes?
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Thinking I do not have her. Feeling I have lost her.
Hearing the immense night, immense without her.
The verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
What matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.
That is all. In the distance someone sings.
In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
My sight tries to find her to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
The same night,
whitening the same trees.
We, those of that time, are no longer the same.
I no longer love her, certainly, but how I loved her.
My voice searched the wind to touch her hearing.
Another’s. She'll be another’s.
As before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.
I no longer love her, true, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Though this be the last pain she makes me suffer
And these the last verses that I write for her.
A fine poem this is. :yoda:
I found it by searching the lyrics for the song "Puedo Escribir" by Sixpence Non the Richer. The song lyrics are composed of about 6 lines of this poem.
Try listening the song, it does the poem true justice. A very romantic and sad song. You can actually feel the "night wind" crying inside your soul. For those who like the kind.
I've read several translations of this poem. "...the night is starry...", I have also read as, "...the night is shattered.." and, "...the night is fractured.." I love this best read in Spanish!
this poem doesn't call "puedo escribir" it's a poem 20 "poema 20" of Pablo Neruda ¬¬
neruda, later in his life, practically denounced twenty love poems etc because he thought it was trite and childish. or maybe he thought himself trite and childish since he wrote most of those poems at around 15 yrs old. but we never stop feeling that way, we never stop loving that childish trite way because thats the best way to love, con ganas, con todo el alma!
I agree that the English translation of this poem is not only offered in different versions, thus losing some of its quality, however I am grateful that the translation was made available for others to enjoy it. This is one of my favorite poems...the line "es tan corto el amor y tan largo el olvido" hooked me. I turned to Neruda's poetry 11 years ago in an attempt to re-collect myself from my first heartbreak. His works helped me sort myself out--they indeed were therapeutic! Glad that all of you appreciate his works. Ciao ciao from the Eternal Spring (Guatemala)!
This is my all-time favorite Neruda poem. There is something about poesia en espanol that is more beautiful than English. I love to read it out loud because the sentiment shines through so strongly; the words are so expressive.