Pablo Neruda’s ⁍ Sonnet 98

And this word, this paper the thousand hands
of a single hand have written on, does not remain
inside you, it is no good for dreaming.
It falls to the earth; there it continues.

No matter that the light, or praise,
spilled over the rim of the cup,
if they were a willful shimmer in the wine,
if your mouth were stained purple as amaranth.

This word: it no longer wants the slow-spoken syllable,
what the reef brings, and brings back,
from my memories, the churned foam:

it wants nothing but to write your name.
And even though my brooding love silences it
now, later the springtime will pronounce it.

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