By Pablo Neruda
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz
or the arrow of
carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to
be loved,
in secret, between shadow and the soul.
I love you as the
plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden
flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the
earth, lives darkly in my body.
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 nor 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.
