Today's poet

[stevefoster]

Bet the spangly, strappy top looked good though...

Oh Yes

[Hes]

I'll give you sad...this was one of the first Neruda poems I read and it is heartbreaking.

The Fable of the Mermaid and the Drunks

All those men were there inside,
when she came in totally naked.
They had been drinking: they began to spit.
Newly come from the river, she knew nothing.
She was a mermaid who had lost her way.
The insults flowed down her gleaming flesh.
Obscenities drowned her golden breasts.
Not knowing tears, she did not weep tears.
Not knowing clothes, she did not have clothes.
They blackened her with burnt corks and cigarette stubs,
and rolled around laughing on the tavern floor.
She did not speak because she had no speech.
Her eyes were the colour of distant love,
her twin arms were made of white topaz.
Her lips moved, silent, in a coral light,
and suddenly she went out by that door.
Entering the river she was cleaned,
shining like a white stone in the rain,
and without looking back she swam again
swam towards emptiness, swam towards death.

Pablo Neruda

[Hes]

thanks Hes and Merry...yep I think we have more of less exhausted Pablo Neruda! though DT is a fan so he might find another!

I think we have loads to go...I have five volumes in English and two in Spanish. Worry not, I'll drip feed them if Todays Poetry becomes threadbare of Neruda.

[stevefoster]

I'll give you sad...this was one of the first Neruda poems I read and it is heartbreaking.

The Fable of the Mermaid and the Drunks

All those men were there inside,
when she came in totally naked.
They had been drinking: they began to spit.
Newly come from the river, she knew nothing.
She was a mermaid who had lost her way.
The insults flowed down her gleaming flesh.
Obscenities drowned her golden breasts.
Not knowing tears, she did not weep tears.
Not knowing clothes, she did not have clothes.
They blackened her with burnt corks and cigarette stubs,
and rolled around laughing on the tavern floor.
She did not speak because she had no speech.
Her eyes were the colour of distant love,
her twin arms were made of white topaz.
Her lips moved, silent, in a coral light,
and suddenly she went out by that door.
Entering the river she was cleaned,
shining like a white stone in the rain,
and without looking back she swam again
swam towards emptiness, swam towards death.

Pablo Neruda

That is sad, the cruelty of drunken men, the cruelty of the human race

[Hes]

That is sad, the cruelty of drunken men, the cruelty of the human race

sorry...I feel a bit guilty now, that is a particularly depressing poem. I'll find a more uplifting one.

[Hes]

The Poet's Obligation

To whoever is not listening to the sea
this Friday morning, to whoever is cooped up
in house or office, factory or woman
or street or mine or harsh prison cell:
to him I come, and, without speaking or looking,
I arrive and open the door of his prison,
and a vibration starts up, vague and insistent,
a great fragment of thunder sets in motion
the rumble of the planet and the foam,
the raucous rivers of the ocean flood,
the star vibrates swiftly in its corona,
and the sea is beating, dying and continuing.

So, drawn on by my destiny,
I ceaselessly must listen to and keep
the sea's lamenting in my awareness,
I must feel the crash of the hard water
and gather it up in a perpetual cup
so that, wherever those in prison may be,
wherever they suffer the autumn's castigation,
I may be there with an errant wave,
I may move, passing through windows,
and hearing me, eyes will glance upward
saying, "How can I reach the sea?"
And I shall broadcast, saying nothing,
the starry echoes of the wave,
a breaking up of foam and of quicksand,
a rustling of salt withdrawing,
the grey cry of sea-birds on the coast.

Pablo Neruda

[Hes]

On that note...think I'm the only one left. Night all.

[stevefoster]

On that note...think I'm the only one left. Night all.

Your last Pablo was more uplifting, Goodnight Hes, Goodnight freckle if your still out there

[freckle]

Your last Pablo was more uplifting, Goodnight Hes, Goodnight freckle if your still out there

Goodnight Hes and Merry thanks for the Pablo poems it heartening to know that there is so much more to look forward to!..............

[stevefoster]

Goodnight Hes and Merry thanks for the Pablo poems it heartening to know that there is so much more to look forward to!..............

Always look forward
Never look back
Saves falling over