I have used this poem before in Endearing silent melody, but like with all poems, and especially Naruda's poems the possibilities are endless.

I like for you to be still

I like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent,
and you hear me from far away and my voice does
not touch you.
It seems as though your eyes had flown away
and it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth.

As all things are filled with my soul
you emerge from the things, filled with my soul.
You are like my soul, a butterfly of dream,
and you are like the word Melancholy.

I like for you to be still, and you seem far away.
It sounds as though you were lamenting, a butterfly
cooing like a dove.
And you hear me from far away, and my voice does
not reach you:
Let me come to be still in your silence.

And let me talk to you with your silence
that is bright as a lamp, simple as a ring.
You are like the night, with its stillness and constellations.
Your silence is that of a star, as remote and candid.

I like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent,
distant and full of sorrow as though you had died.
One word then, one smile, is enough.
And I am happy, happy that it’s not true There are times when we need laughter and motion, words and expression and then there are times when nothing but deep silence and stillness will do. In relationships these needs are not always necessarily synchronized. But in love we learn. So often we need to make allowances and adjustments for the ones we love Because we do not know when it is perhaps the moment when they love our silence, our deep thought, our elation or our motion. One of the most wondrous pleasures of love is indulging your loved ones their momentary needs. For me sharing silence and still moments, whether they are simple ‘being’ moments or whether they are deep meaningful moments, is one of the most fulfilling parts of a relationship.

willow

Yes the conduct of love, so arbitrary, so mysterious, such a incomprehensible but enveloping variable in our lives. We study that conduct as children, how do people love, how do you reply with love, and then for ever after as adults. Can one love with no reply, with silence. Yes, does silence not have a sound. A lot of sound in fact, but in love it is directed. If un unaccompanied sound, unaccompanied with a gesture - the smile that is enough - the silence is an isolated one. Maybe one of fear, frustration, sometimes protected. But if silence plays accordion to those little gesture that can not be misunderstood - the smile, the caress, touch - how undoubtingly we know that we share love.

sparroy