Feeling A Little Romantic This Morning....

Sonnet XVII
Pablo Neruda

I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving

but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

When Patch read this sonnet to Corrine in the movie 'Patch Adams,' I thought it was just about the sweetest thing I had ever heard. I wanted to know more about it, but finding it was difficult because all I could remember was the last line. Thanks to Google and Amazon, I located the work and within just a few days had my own copy of 100 Love Sonnets, a book of sweet, heartfelt sentiments inspired by the love Pablo Neruda felt for his wife, Matilde.