I do not love you....

I do not love you
-pablo neruda
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose,
or topaz,or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret,
between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
that this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep


My husband used to read this to me in Spanish and English. Usually during intimate moments between us, physical or not, in the quiet of midnights, even now I can close my eyes and remember his voice pressing against me, my hands holding us still and the breeze from the books pages. My mother asked me for love quotes, my sister asked me for poems, and this is the one I think of every time they asks me, and I thought if I posted it here, I could let my husband see that I remember, I remember all of it.