Hambriente (Hunger)

¡Hola! Everybody,
I want to take this moment to wish my dear freidn Iris (Beeper) a very happy birthday. The past year has been a challenging one, I know. But Iris, you serve as a power of example for many people. We used to fifht a lot, so that must mean I care for her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRIS!

I will be gone for the day. I’m taking a friend’s advice and going out to do something for myself. Have a great Saturday and I’ll be seeing you all tomorrow.

Today I’m posting one of my fave poems. It’s a bilingual thing today people. If you can read in Spanish, do it because as powerful as the English version is, it pales in comparison to the Spanish. I love the line, “Quiero comer el rayo quemado en tu hermosura… ” (I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body... )

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XI

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

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Tengo hambre de tu boca, de tu voz, de tu pelo
y por las calles voy sin nutrirme, callado,
no me sostiene el pan, el alba me desquicia,
busco el sonido líquido de tus pies en el dia.

Estoy hambriento de tu risa resbalada,
de tus manos color de furioso granero,
tengo hambre de la palida piedra de tus uñas,
quiero comer tu piel como una intacta almendra.

Quiero comer el rayo quemado en tu hermosura,
la nariz soberana del arrogante rostro,
quiero comer la sombra fugaz de tus pestañas

y hambriento vengo y voy olfateando el crepusculo
buscandote, buscando tu corazon caliente
como un puma en la soledad de Quitratue.

-- Pablo Neruda

(1986). Cien sonetos de amor (100 love sonnets). Austin, TX, Univesity of Texas Press.

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Love,

Eddie