If suddenly you do not exist,
if suddenly you no longer live,
I shall live on.
I do not dare,
I do not dare to write it,
if you die.
I shall live on.
For where a man has no voice,
there, my voice.
Where blacks are beaten,
I cannot be dead.
When my brothers go to prison
I shall go with them.
When victory,
not my victory,
but the great victory comes,
even though I am mute I must speak;
I shall see it come even
though I am blind.
No, forgive me.
If you no longer live,
if you, beloved, my love,
if you have died,
all the leaves will fall in my breast,
it will rain on my soul night and day,
the snow will burn my heart,
I shall walk with frost and fire and death and snow,
my feet will want to walk to where you are sleeping, but
I shall stay alive,
because above all things
you wanted me indomitable,
and, my love, because you know that I am not only a man
but all mankind.
(Pablo Neruda)
More Poetry from Pablo Neruda:
Pablo Neruda Poems based on Topics: Love, Man, Sleep, Snow, Speaking, Sleeping, Success, Forgiveness, Mankind- The People (Pablo Neruda Poems)
- Walking Around (Original Spanish) (Pablo Neruda Poems)
- Tonight I Can Write (The Saddest Lines) (Pablo Neruda Poems)
- Song Of Despair (Pablo Neruda Poems)
- I Explain A Few Things (Pablo Neruda Poems)
- And because Love battles (Pablo Neruda Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, Man Poems, Sleep Poems, Success Poems, Snow Poems, Speaking Poems, Forgiveness Poems, Sleeping Poems, Mankind Poems- Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift, D.S.P.D. (Jonathan Swift Poems)
- Vision Of Columbus - Book 7 (Joel Barlow Poems)
- By The Seaside : The Building Of The Ship (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poems)
- The Bas Bleu: Or, Conversation. Addressed To Mrs. Vesey (Hannah More Poems)
- The Turtle And Sparrow. An Elegiac Tale (Matthew Prior Poems)