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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