Terence Clarke Novelist, journalist, screenwriter, filmmaker

Pablo Neruda's Love Sonnet 61: A Translation

June 14, 2008

61
Trajo el amor su cola de dolores,
su largo rayo estático de espinas
y cerramos los ojos porque nada,
porque ninguna herida nos separe.

No es culpa de tus ojos este llanto:
tus manos no clavaron esta espada:
no buscaron tus pies este camino:
llegó a tu corazón la miel sombría.

Cuando el amor como una inmensa ola
nos estrelló contra la piedra dura,
nos amasó con una sola harina,

cayó el dolor sobre otro dulce rostro
y así en la luz de la estación abierta
se consagró la primavera herida.

61
Love brought along its tail of pain,
its long ecstatic ray of spines,
and we closed are eyes to it, so that nothing . . .
so that no wound could take us apart.

It's not the fault of your eyes, these tears.
Your hands did not plunge this sword.
Your feet sought not this road.
The gloomy sweet came to your heart.

When love like an immense wave
dashed us against the solid rocks,
it kneaded us like solitary flour,

and pain fell across a different sweet face.
Thus in the full light of the season
was consecrated the wounded spring.

Translation: Terence Clarke