Ode to some yellow flowers by Pablo Neruda
Ode to some yellow flowers
Pablo Neruda
Translated by Ken KrabbenhoftRolling its blues against another blue,
the sea, and against the sky
some yellow flowers.October is on its way.
And although
the sea may well be important, with its unfolding
myths, its purpose and its risings,
when the gold of a single
yellow plant
explodes
in the sand
your eyes
are bound
to the soil.
They flee the wide sea and its heavings.We are dust and to dust return.
In the end we’re
neither air, nor fire, nor water,
just
dirt,
neither more nor less, just dirt,
and maybe
some yellow flowers.
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SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Odes to Common Things by Pablo Neruda, published by Bulfinch Press, 1994. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
ABOUT PABLO NERUDA
Born Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto in the town of Parral in southern Chile on July 12, 1904, Pablo Neruda led a life charged with poetic and political activity. In 1923, he sold all of his possessions to finance the publication of his first book, Crepusculario (“Twilight”). He published the volume under the pseudonym “Pablo Neruda” to avoid conflict with his family, who disapproved of his occupation. The following year, he found a publisher for Veinte poemas de amor y… (more)
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ENDNOTES
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