Pablo Neruda

Part of (I'm Explaining a Few Things)
by Pablo Neruda

And one morning all that was burning,
one morning the bonfires
leapt out of the earth
devouring human beings --
and from then on fire,
gunpowder from then on,
and from then on blood.
Bandits with planes and Moors,
bandits with finger-rings and duchesses,
bandits with black friars spattering blessings
came through the sky to kill children
and the blood of children ran through the streets
without fuss, like children's blood.

Jackals that the jackals would despise,
stones that the dry thistle would bite on and spit out,
vipers that the vipers would abominate!

Face to face with you I have seen the blood
of Spain(Gaza) tower like a tide
to drown you in one wave
of pride and knives!

Treacherous
generals:
see my dead house,
look at broken Spain (Gaza):
from every house burning metal flows
instead of flowers,
from every socket of Spain ( Gaza)
Spain emerges
and from every dead child a rifle with eyes,
and from every crime bullets are born
which will one day find
the bull's eye of your hearts.

And you'll ask: why doesn't his poetry
speak of dreams and leaves
and the great volcanoes of his native land?

Come and see the blood ( of children) in the streets,
come and see
the blood in the streets,
come and see the blood
in the streets!

between () are my reminders

Amazingly touching and sad..

Thanks
Neruda is the most influential poet of 20tth century. He basically was a love poem writer until the civil war in Spain. They said in this long poem the first drop of blood has splashed on his poetry. This is one of the most powerful poems I have ever read. He wrote it after the execution of his fellow poet "Federico Garcia Lorca" (my avatar) and few others.

Good old times!!