Pablo Poems

Premium MemberFor Those in Need of Poetry

Poetry does not belong to those who write it, but to those who need it.~Pablo Neruda

A blank page is the bane of all writers.
Examples that are written are blighters.
Frustration would stay.
A word that escapes you for the moment
to capture a perception, you lament.
You should step away.

It has been said that good poetry heal;
it expresses how
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, poems, poetry, poets,
Form: Tail-rhyme

BLUE NUDE : Pablo Picasso: 1902

she  rose from depths of his despair
followed an artistic youthful 
                       D
                    
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, allegory, allusion, art, bereavement,
Form: Ekphrasis


Pablo Neruda in English Translations including 'Religion in the East'

These are English translations of Spanish poems by Pablo Neruda. 

Religión en el Este (“Religion in the East”)
by Pablo Neruda
translation by Michael R. Burch

for Tom Merrill

I realized in Rangoon:
the gods were our enemies
as much as God;
alabaster gods elongated like white whales;
gilded gods gleaming like golden ears of corn;
serpentine gods coiling around the crime of being
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, death, earth, god, heaven,
Form: Free verse

Pablo Neruda: English translation of 'Machu Picchu'

The Heights of Machu Picchu, Canto VIII
by Pablo Neruda
translation by Michael R. Burch

Ascend with me, my American love!

Let’s kiss these mysterious stones together!

The Urubamba’s torrential silver
lures pollen to fly from its golden chalice
while above this canyon’s unbroken silence
everything soars: the climbing grapevines,
the shopworn plants, each inflexible garland.

Come, elfin life, test your wings above the earth,
test
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, america, earth, kiss, life,
Form: Free verse

Composition in D Minor

Withered fingers
Cannot play anymore;
I drown in nuanced shades of blue,
Not seeing, in my plight,
My strings, wound tight,
Suspending me
Like a puppet,
Tethered to life.

I in my tattered clothes,
Blue like sorrow,
Torn like the heart that hopes,
Unable to keep out the cold
Or cover the secrets I hold—
I am the man who mopes,

       
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, art, music, suicide,
Form: Free verse


Premium MemberA Picnic With Pablo Neruda

Four legs quiver
like clumsy cabrioles
striking smooth gray rivers
of zig-zag sidewalk barrios
in rhythm with happy shivers
syncopated on a muffled drum
as we talk and stroll

On our way
hand-in-hand
we persuade and pretend
this day away
taunting and cajoling to demand
laughing “hide and seeking”
chasing and skedaddling
poking and peeking
like cuddly pandas
or canoodling otters
splashing and clambering

We roll and meander
impetuously twiddling all the way
atop gregarious
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, i love you, love,
Form: Rhyme

Poem To Pablo Neruda

Captain of the Farthest Islands
living poem between my prose
that each one was exchanged for roses
with moonlight and roving mornings


You loved as few have loved
with the madness of sea and clear lyrics
the greatest poet that will remain in us
like him in the calm portrayed...


The island was light and your horizon
was a witness to your fate, luck
let
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, allegory, allusion, analogy, appreciation,
Form: Free verse

Bard Pablo Birthday's Song

What, in your own mind,  you do think you lack,
Within thy sensational loneliness--
Truly energize luck and got your back, 
To promote thy risk in times, coziness. 

Then each and every of your lovely fear, 
Creates the globe with an enormous home. 
Surely, of a great deal, becomes so dear
A lorry pen drives where shining
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, 1st grade, africa, age,
Form: Sonnet

Hola Pablo

Life is creation  
not a discovery
Distant horizons
the palette we choose

Painting and singing
loving and dreaming
Memory a servant
—time but a ruse

(Dreamsleep: July, 2022)
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, life,
Form: Rhyme

Poem Pablo Neruda

Captain of the most distant islands
living poem among my proses
that each one was exchanging for roses
with moonlight and wandering mornings

II
You loved as few have loved
with sea madness and clear lyrics
the greatest poet that will remain in us
as he in the calm portrayed...

III
The island was your light and your horizon
was a witness to your fate, luck
let
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, allegory, allusion, analogy, appreciation,
Form: Free verse

Nicanor Parra Sandoval Translation: Advice To Young Poets

Advice to Young Poets
by Nicanor Parra Sandoval
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Youngsters,
write however you will
in your preferred style.
Too much blood flowed under the bridge
for me to believe
there’s just one acceptable path.
In poetry everything’s permitted.

Originally published by Setu



Ivy
by Michael R. Burch

“Van trepando en mi viejo dolor como las yedras.” – Pablo Neruda
“They climb on my old
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, mentor, poems, poetry, poets,
Form: Free verse

Pablo Neruda Translation: Every Day You Play

Every Day You Play
by Pablo Neruda
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Every day you play with Infinity’s rays.
Exquisite visitor, you arrive with the flowers and the water.
You are vastly more than this immaculate head I clasp tightly
like a cornucopia, every day, between my hands ...



My Dog Died
by Pablo Neruda
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

My dog died;
so
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, aubade, beauty, dog, for
Form: Free verse

Pablo Neruda Translations

I love you only because I love you
by Pablo Neruda
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I love you only because I love you;
I am torn between loving and not loving you,
Between apathy and desire.
My heart vacillates between ice and fire.

I love you only because you’re the one I love;
I hate you deeply, but hatred
Bends me all
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, love, romance, romantic, romantic
Form: Sonnet

Premium MemberPablo Self Portrait

Picasso, oval face and olive eyes, 
always solemn and searching.
Pushing boundaries, challenging authority,
his artistic torch cut through the fog of life.

At times his scrutiny turned inwards.
Self-critique of the physical and the psychological took hold.
Could it be self-doubt or ego which drove him on?
Or was it simply a visual diary of moments in his life?

1901, subdued
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, art, self,
Form: Free verse

Premium MemberTranslation of Pablo Neruda's In You the Earth By T Wignesan

Si de pronto no existes, (If of a sudden you were no more,) 
si de pronto no vives,(if of a sudden you live no more,) 
yo seguiré viviendo. (I'll continue to live.) 

No me atrevo,(I do not dare,) 
no me atrevo a escribirlo, (hardly will I find the courage to write this) 
si te mueres.(if
...
Continue reading...
Categories: pablo, anti bullying, humanity, identity,
Form: Free verse

Related Poems

Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry