Stress Management Readings: Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), Nobel Laureate for Literature in 1971, was a central figure in the elegant Italian movie Il Postino. Read a biography of Neruda and his literary output.
Here are the bread - the wine - the table - the house:
a man's needs, and a woman's, and a life's.
Peace whirled through and settled in this place:
the common fire burned, to make this light.
Hail to your two hands, which fly and make
their white creations, the singing and the food:
salve! the wholesomeness of your busy feet;
viva! the ballerina who dances with the broom.
Those rugged rivers of water and of threat,
torturous pavillions of the foam,
incendiary hives and reefs: today
they are this respite, your blood in mine,
this path, starry and blue as the night,
this never-ending simple tenderness.
Radiant days rolling on the water, intense as the inside
of a yellow rock, its splendor like honey:
that wasn't damaged by all the turmoil.
That kept its four-square purity.
Yes: the daylight crackles like a fire, or like bees,
getting on with its green work, burying itself in leaves:
till up at the top the foliage reaches
a bright world that flickers and whispers.
Thirst of fire, scorch and multitudinousness of summer,
which builds an Eden with a few green leaves -:
because the dark-faced earth does not want suffering;
it wants freshness—fire—water—bread, for everyone:
nothing should separate people
but the sun or the night, the moon or the branches.