Friday, 12 July 2019

'He who does not travel, who does not read'

1924 | Twenty Love Poems and A Song of Despair


One of the most popular Latin American poets of all time, Pablo Neruda is also one of the very few poets who has dabbled in poetry for more than half a century of his lifetime!

And he was rewarded nay awarded with the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971, just two years before he breathed his last. The Nobel citation was all praise for his poetry, and justified the award as a reward ‘for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent’s destiny and dreams.’’

Neruda’s most popular and much celebrated work is Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924), which is an anthology of his most romantic and most erotic love poems put together. The fact that this book churned out more than 20,00,000 copies in print, in Spanish alone, bespeaks to the immense popularity of Neruda in his land!

Neruda always had a great passion for travelling, and reading!

On his birth anniversary today, me thought of giving y’all one intense poem from Neruda that I’ve loved so much!

It’s such an inspirational poem on the likes of Kipling’s ‘If’ and it’s titled “Die Slowly!”

Well, the poem emphasizes on the need for living a wholesome life, which would mean, living a fuller and an enriching life. To do that, one should take risks, and not be ensconced comfortably in one’s comfort zone, he says! He writes on everything from books to travel to life, with which we all can relate with so so well!

Here’s giving y’all nuggets from this fab poem!

He who becomes the slave of habit,
who follows the same routes every day,
who never changes pace,
who does not risk and change the color of his clothes,
who does not speak and does not experience,
dies slowly.

He who does not travel, who does not read,
who does not listen to music,
who does not find grace in himself,
she who does not find grace in herself,
dies slowly.

He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem,
who does not allow himself to be helped,
who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck, 
about the rain that never stops,
dies slowly.

Let's try and avoid death in small doses,
reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing.

Only a burning patience will lead
to the attainment of a splendid happiness.

- Pablo Neruda

image: worldofwonderdotnet

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