Tuesday 1 September 2009

Pablo Neruda's The Book of Questions, Part 2 of 2

XLI

What did the tree learn from the earth
to be able to talk with the sky?

XLIV

And why does my skeleton pursue me
if my soul has fallen away?

LVI

You don't believe that dromedaries
keep moonlight in their humps?

Don't they sow it in the desert
with secret persistence?

LVIII

And what was beating in the night?
Were they planets or horseshoes?

LIX

And which flag unfurled there
where they didn't forget me?

LXIII

How is the translation of their languages
arranged with the birds?

How do I tell the turtle
that I am slower than he?

LXIV

Do we learn kindness
or the mask of kindness?
. . .

Who assigns names and numbers
to the innumerable innocent?

LXXII

Why so slowly in winter
and later with such a rapid shudder?

LXXIV

When is the appointment of the rose
decreed under the earth?

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