Poema 1 [English translation]

Body of a woman, white mounds, white thighs,

you look like the world in your attitude of surrender.

My savage laborer's body weakens you

and makes its son spring from the depths of the earth.

I was just like a tunnel. Birds fled from me

and in me the night's powerful invasion came.

For my own survival I forged you like a weapon,

like an arrow in my bow, like a stone in my sling.

But the time of vengeance has come, and I love you.

Body of skin, of moss, of milk, avid and firm.

Ah, the vessels of the breast! Ah, the eyes of emptiness!

Ah, the roses of the pubis! Ah, your voice lingering and sad!

Body of my woman, I will persist in your charm.

My thirst, my limitless yearning, my unsettled course!

Dark channels where eternal thirst follows,

and weariness follows, and infinite pain.

• Artist:Pablo Neruda
• Album:Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada (1924)