Pablo Neruda, that renowned and principled Chilean poet, is a favourite of Rebel Voice. Neruda won a Nobel Prize for literature and was a lifelong socialist stalwart. It was his political and humanitarian beliefs, as well as his success as a writer, that lead to the fascist, General Pinochet, having the scribe murdered whilst sick. Here is another of Neruda‘s poems translated from the Spanish.
The Fear
They all ask me to jump
to invigorate and to play soccer,
to run, to swim and to fly.
Very well.
They all advise me rest,
they all send me to the doctor,
looking at me a certain way.
What happens?
They all advise me to travel,
to come and to leave, to stay,
to die and not to die.
It does not matter.
They all see the difficulties
of my surprised bowels
by awful X-rayed portraits.
I do not agree.
They all sting my poetry
with relentless forks
seeking, without doubt, a fly,
I am afraid.
I am afraid of everyone,
of the cold water, of the death.
I am like all the mortals,
unavoidable.
And for that, in these short days
I am not going to pay attention to them,
I am going to open myself up and shut myself in
with my more perfidious enemy,
Pablo Neruda.
Pablo Neruda
For another of Neruda‘s wonderful poems, click on the following link:
https://rebelvoice.blog/2018/12/21/pablo-neruda-lost-in-the-forest/
Rebel Voice 