Tuesday, January 4, 2011

"Only with ardent patience will we reach splendid happiness"

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Pablo Neruda, who lived from 1904 – 1973, was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda. Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentinian poet,when asked for his opinion of Neruda, salid "I think of him as a very fine poet, a very fine poet. I don't admire him as a man, I think of him as a very mean man."

No matter what you think of his politics, I hope you find the following poem inspirational as we face the New Year.

Muere lentamente
(English translation below)

Muere lentamente quien se transforma en esclavo del hábito, repitiendo todos los días los mismos trayectos, quien no cambia de marca, no arriesga vestir un color nuevo y no le habla a quien no conoce.

Muere lentamente quien evita una pasión, quien prefiere el negro sobre blanco y los puntos sobre las "íes" a un remolino de emociones, justamente las que rescatan el brillo de los ojos, sonrisas de los bostezos, corazones a los tropiezos y sentimientos.

Muere lentamente quien no voltea la mesa cuando está infeliz en el trabajo, quien no arriesga lo cierto por lo incierto para ir detrás de un sueño, quien no se permite por lo menos una vez en la vida, huir de los consejos sensatos.

Muere lentamente quien no viaja, quien no lee, quien no oye música, quien no encuentra gracia en sí mismo.

Muere lentamente quien destruye su amor propio, quien no se deja ayudar.

Muere lentamente, quien pasa los días quejándose de su mala suerte o de la lluvia incesante.

Muere lentamente, quien abandona un proyecto antes de iniciarlo, no preguntando de un asunto que desconoce o no respondiendo cuando le indagan sobre algo que sabe.

Evitemos la muerte en suaves cuotas, recordando siempre que estar vivo exige un esfuerzo mucho mayor que el simple hecho de respirar.

Solamente la ardiente paciencia hará que conquistemos una espléndida felicidad.

-Pablo Neruda-


Those who become the slave of habit, who follow the same routes every day, who never change pace, who do not risk and change the color of their clothes, who do not speak and do not experience, die slowly.

Those who shun passion, who prefer black on white, and dotting their "i's" to a bundle of emotions, the kind that make your eyes glimmer, that turn a yawn into a smile, that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings, die slowly.

Those who do not turn things on their head, who are unhappy at work, who do not risk certainty for uncertainty, thus to follow a dream, those who do not forego sound advice at least once in their lives, die slowly.

Those who do not travel, who do not read, who do not listen to music, who do not find grace in themselves, die slowly.

Those who slowly destroy their own self-esteem, who do not allow themselves to be helped, who spend days on end complaining about their bad luck, about the rain that never stops, die slowly.

Those who abandon a project before starting it, who fail to ask questions about subjects they don't know, those who don't reply when they are asked something they do know, die slowly.

Let's try and avoid death in small doses, reminding ourselves that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing. Only with ardent patience we reach a wonderful happiness.

-Pablo Neruda-

Click Here for Translation Source

1 comment:

David said...

Dear friend,
I really love this poem
and worse everybody knows that it is Pablo Neruda's poem. Well maybe not everybody, but most people do, and it is wrong and It takes something (a lot) away from the real writer.
The writer of this poem is Martha Medeiros, a Brazilian journalist and writer.
Cheers
David