N is for Nonpareil...and Names....and Neruda

Neruda, Pablo (1904-1973)

Neruda was a Chilean poet, political activist, and a diplomat, he wrote in Spanish - some of the most hauntingly erotic love poetry ever written. Many critics feel that he is one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century in any language. Neruda was a pseudonym the poet initially assumed to protect his family who did not approve of poetry, and I still remember being a little shocked when I first came to know that, the name Neruda was so inextricably linked to his words in my (much younger) mind, a rose wasn't a rose by any other name for me back then :) 


Here I am responding to his poem Don't go far off.

No excuse

Go where you like, beloved, my heart’s steadfast

in your love and in the knowledge of yours;

the time for holding on is long past

travel beyond my threshold and to new shores.

I still cannot handle farewells too well

I still don’t know the right words for leave-taking;

at each departure space and time unravel

and even now the clock hands are shaking -

Go safe, stay well however long your trip.

And however far you go come back to me.

But I won’t say that, keep it less dramatic,

less clingy; studied offhand, ordinary.

Because anguish is no excuse to curb a wish

And love can watch all silhouettes diminish.

The argument here is one of those perennial unsolvable puzzles, is love all about holding close or is it about letting go? Is letting go an indication of a weak or strong bond, confidence or callousness? Does love desire proximity, to see and touch the beloved? Or is love content in the happiness of its beloved, even at the cost of its own? 

Have you ever been shocked to find out a writer's real name because the pseudonym fitted better than the real one? Another one I remember where I had the same reaction was James Herriot. :)



 

Posted for the A-Z Challenge 2015