Terence Clarke Novelist, journalist, screenwriter, filmmaker

Pablo Neruda's Love Sonnet 62: A Translation

June 15, 2008

62
Ay de mí, ay de nosotros, bienamada,
sólo quisimos sólo amor, amarnos,
y entre tantos dolores se dispuso
sólo nosotros dos ser malheridos.

Quisimos el tú y yo para nosotros,
el tú del beso, el yo del pan secreto,
y así era todo, eternamente simple,
hasta que el odio entró por la ventana.

Odian los que no amaron nuestro amor,
ni ningún otro amor, desventurados
como las sillas de un salón perdido,

hasta que se enredaron en ceniza
y el rostro amenazante que tuvieron
se apagó en el crepúsculo apagado.

62
Ah, me!  Ah, the two of us! beloved,
all we wanted was love alone, to love each other,
and, among so many pains, it was left
just to us to be so badly wounded.

We wanted you and I for us,
the you of the kiss, the I of the secret bread,
and so went everything, eternally simple,
until hatred came in through the window.

Those who hate loved not our love,
nor any love, those unfortunates
so like chairs in a lost salon,

until they tangled themselves in ash,
and the menacing face they had
faded in the fading dawn.

Translation: Terence Clarke