THE MOST ROMANTIC POEM FOR ME...

Few months ago, i chanced upon a very romantic poem translated in Filipino which i also posted it here. Now i was able to find the English version, if not the original version of the poem and it is equally romantic as the Filipino version that i first saw. This is a free verse so it lacks the usual rhyme but I really love this poem because I can really feel the emotion that the writer intensedly poured to create this masterpiece. This is the most romantic poem i ever read so far. The poem is written by Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto, who goes by the pen name Pablo Neruda by the way. An old poet i guess, who died in 1973. And nope, he is not a Filipino. I guess the old man was really romantic to the bones, to have written a poem such as this.


Tonight I Can Write

Tonight, I can write the saddest lines.
Write, for example. The night is starry
and the blue stars shiver in the distance.
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Tonight, I can write the saddest lines,
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me, too.
Through nights like this one, I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
She loved me, sometimes, I loved her too.
how could one not love her great still eyes?
Tonight, I can write the saddest lines,
To think that I do not have her, too feel that I have lost her.
To hear the immense night still more immense without her,
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.
this is all. In the distance, someone is singing.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer
My heart looks fort her, and she is not with me.
The same night, whitening the same trees,
We, of that time, are no longer the same.
I no longer love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her,
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
Another’s. She will be another’s, as she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body, her infinite eyes.
I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short; forgetting is long.
Because through nights like this one, I held her in my arms
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
And these be the last verses that I write for her.

- end -

and this was the Tagalog version i first posted here...

Maisusulat ko ang pinakamalungkot na berso ngayong gabi.

Maisusulat ko ang pinakamalungkot na berso ngayong gabi.
Maisusulat ko, halimbawa: "Mabituin ang gabiat nanginginig, bughaw ang mga tala sa malayo."
Lumiligid sa langit ang simoy-gabi at umaawit.
Maisusulat ko ang pinakamalungkot na berso ngayong gabi.Minahal ko siya, at minahal din niya ako paminsan-minsan.
Sa mga gabing ganito, ibinilanggo ko siya sa aking mga bisig.Ulit-ulit ko siyang hinagkan sa lilim ng walang-hanggang langit.
Minahal niya ako, paminsan-minsan ko rin siyang minahal.Sino ang hindi iibig sa kaniyang malalaki't mga matang tahimik.
Maisusulat ko ang pinakamalungkot na berso ngayong gabi.Maiisip kasing hindi na siya akin. Madaramang wala na siya sa akin.
Maririnig ang gabing malawak, at mas lumalawak kung wala siya.At pumapatak sa kaluluwa ang bersong tila hamog sa pastulan.
Maano kung hindi siya mabantayan ng aking pag-ibig.Mabituin ang gabi at hindi siya kapiling.
Ito na ang lahat. May umaawit sa malayo. Sa malayo.Hindi mapanatag ang kaluluwa ko sa pagkawala niya.
Upang waring ilapit siya, hinahanap siya ng aking mata.Hinahanap siya ng aking puso, at hindi siya kapiling.
Ganito rin ag gabing nagpapusyaw sa ganito ring mga punongkahoy.Kami, sa tagpong iyon ang nagbago.
Hindi ko na siya mahal, natitiyak ko, ngunit minahal ko siya nang todo.Hinahanap ng tinig ko ang simoy upang hipuin ang kaniyang pandinig.
Nasa iba. Siya'y nasa iba. tulad noong katalik siya ng aking mga halik.Ang kaniyang tinig, malinaw na katawan. Ang kaniyang matang walang-hanggan.
Hindi ko na siya mahal, natitiyak ko, ngunit baka mahal ko siya.Napakaikli ng pag-ibig, napakahaba ng paglimot.
Dahil sa mga gabing ganito na ibinilanggo ko siya sa aking mga bisighindi mapanatag ang kaluluwa ko sa pagkawala niya.
Kahit ito na ang huling pighating ipapataw niya sa akin,at ito ang huling mga bersong isusulat ko para sa kaniya.

isinalin ni Virgilio Almario
- end -

Isn't it sweet???

AN INNOCENT CHAT WITH MY SON...

Early this morning, while my son and I were having breakfast together, he suddenly asked me what the most important day of my life was.

My mind repeated the question again… What could be the most important day of my life? And randomly, I pictured the significant events of my life…

Then without a doubt, I knew the answer…and I really felt deep within my heart that this is really the most important day of my life…

And I told him…

"It was the day I gave birth on you."