pablo neruda
july 12,1904-september 23,1973
faramarzsoleimani.com
THIS NOTE IS WRITTEN ON PABLO NERUDA'S POEM:
NOTHING BUT DEATH
ON THE OCCASION OF ANNIVERSARY OF POET'S BIRTH&DEATH.
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IN THE DEEP OF DARKNESS,
NERUDA SPEAKS OF DEATH,
TO INTERNALIZE IT IN A DESPERATE DESERT.
there are cemeteries that are lonely
graves full of bones that do not make a sound
the heart moving through a tunnel
in it darkness,darkness,darkness
like a shipreck we die going into ourselves
as though we lived falling out of the skin into the soul.
DEATH IS THE FEELING WITHIN THE POET.DEATH IS THE BEING WITHIN THE POET.NERUDA WAS BORN WITH DEATH.AS HIS MOTHER DIED SHORTLY AFTER HIS BIRTH.NERUDA LIVED WITH DEATH
AND HE FOLLOWED HIM THROUGH HIS LIFE.IN NERUDA'S MEMOIR,DEATH BECOMES HIM AND CHASING HIM,ESPECIALLY WHEN POET ESCAPES JAIL AND POSSIBLY EXECUTION BY GENERALS AND PASSES THROUGH ANDES RANGE TO REACH ARGENTINA AND FLY TO FREEDOM IN PARIS.
and there are corpses
feet made of cold and sticky clay
death is inside the bones
like a barking where there are no dogs
coming out from bells somewhere ,from graves somewhere
growing in the damp air like tears of rain.
sometimes I see alone
coffins under sail
embarking with the pale dead,with women that have dead hair
with bakers who are as white as angels
and pensive young girls married to notary publics
caskets sailing up the vertical river of the dead
the river of dark purple
moving upstream with sails filled out by the sound of death
filled by the sound of death which is silence.
NERUDA HERE ARRIVES FROM NOTHINGNESS AND VOID IN A HUMANLESS SUIT AND FOOTLESS SHOES TO TELL US THAT LONELINESS AND SILENCE IS DEATH.
AND THAT DEATH IS ALIVE.AND LIVING IN NOTHINGNESS AND VOID.
THE INFINITY OF VOID.IT COMES TO THE HOUSE OF FLOWERS IN MADRID,TO HEIGHTS OF MACHU PICHU IN PERU WITH MAYANS.IT ALSO COMES TO SANTIGO OF PABLO NERUDA
WHEN HIS COFFIN IS FOLLOWED BY SILENT PEOPLE'S SOUND AND SONG...
death arrives among all that sound
like a shoe with no foot in it
like a suit with no man in it
comes and knocks,using a ring with no stone in it,with no finger in it
comes and shouts with no mouth,with no tongue,with no throat.
nevertheless its steps can be heard
and its clothing makes a hushed sound,like a tree.
NERUDA IS SUPPORTING AND PROTECTING HIMSELF BY BEAUTY,IN VAIN.SONGS AND FLOWERS WILL NOT HELP.DEATH ARRIVES AND GOES THROUGH THE WORLD.
I am not sure ,I understand only a little,I can hardly see
but it seems to me that its singing has the color of damp violets
of violets that are at home in the earth
because the face of death is green
and the look death gives is green
with the penetrating dampness of a violet leaf
and somber color of embittered winter.
but death also goes through the world dressed as broom
lapping the floor,looking for dead bodies
death is inside the broom
the broom is the tongue of death looking for corpses
it is the needle of death looking for thread.
DEATH FOR NERUDA IS MOVING EVEN UPSTREAM.HE CALLS IT SAILING,AND HE MEANS AGAINST THE CURRENT,TAKING BODIES AND CORPSES WITH IT.AS IN ANY REBEL AND RESISTANCE.
death is inside the folding cots:
it spends its life sleeping on the slow matresses
in the back blankets,and suddenly breathes out:
it blows out a mornful sound that swells the sheets
and the beds go sailing toward a port
where death is waiting,dressed like an admiral.
SO DEATH DISGUISED AS A PORT OR HAVEN STILL IS WAITING TO GET ITS VICTIM,NO MATTER WHO HE IS OR WHERE HE GOES.
NERUDA'S DRAWING OF DEATH AS DESTINY IS SIMILAR TO THE PATTERNS AND LINES IN CLSSICAL PERSIAN LITERATURE AND POETRY,ALSO SEEN IN INGMAR BERGMAN'S SEVENTH SEAL.
IT IS AN OLD NEW STORY EXPRESSED MASTERFULLY THROUGH NERUDA'S TONGUE AND THROAT.IT IS A STORY OF SELF AND ALL OTHERS.
see also: faramarzsoleimani.com/pablo neruda, poet of ordinary people
written and posted FOR 7/12 ON pablo neruda's birthday
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