Love: Ten Poems

he is brilliant and the book was a gift it was all good. a ten star book.

Like other reviewers, I like Neruda and enjoyed the film in which these poems are featured. I wish I could say the same for this book. That it contains only ten poems in Spanish together with their English translations is no mark against it. That it was rushed into print in order to cash in on the film's appeal did not prevent me from buying it. But the volume has been carelessly edited, and typographical errors abound. "Angela adónica," for example, contains no fewer than four such errors within the first ten lines; the poem is only sixteen lines long. Similarly, "Fábula de la sirena y los borrachos" contains an absurd misprint in the very first line: "Todos estos señoras" for "Todos estos señores." Fans of "Il Postino" will be glad to find so many of the poems quoted in the film brought together in one book, though they will search in vain for the poem in which "la sonrisa se extiende como una mariposa en tu rostro." But serious readers looking for reliable Spanish texts of these beautiful poems had better look elsewhere.

Neruda at his best. These are elegant, beautiful poems to read and re-read. It is a small slim book, but every poem is a jewel. Keep it by your bed and read before you sleep.

Mr Neruda captures the feeling and emotion of love in these written works. They are from the movie IL POSTINO and have incredible impact.

POETRY by Pablo Neruda

And it was at that age...Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don't know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.

And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
I felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.

When I first read this poem, something within me blossomed. It was as if Neruda had found a way to pry open my soul and let the True Light, the True Love, and the True Life of my life to finally come forth; naked, unashamed, and gloriously beautiful.

Even though this book only contains ten little poems, you will get so much enjoyment out of each and every one of them. I even gave a copy of this book to someone whose primary reading interests were that of Mad Magazine and the classifieds and he said he never imagined that reading could be so sensual and yet so soulful.

May your heart and soul break wide open and may the radiant jewels that are within come forth for all to see.

Peace and blessings...