I don't know why, exactly...

that I feel the need to post this poem. This was the poem my ex had read to me as part of our vows at our wedding ceremony. Maybe because I was looking up the poetry of one of my favourite poets to send to a friend. Or perhaps it's because sometimes I get sad over what could have been...I know that's not a good thing but wistfulness has a tendancy to make my anger and even the hurt subside for a bit...to ease the pain of knowing what will never be, and to somehow mourn this loss (for yes our love at the time of it's greatest heights was something that I never wanted to lose - and certainly not in the manner it *was* lost)...or, perhaps I am posting this for all the lovers out there and for the hope/ache that I still have that someday I will truly find a love that will be cherished equally by each partner and held within the sacred space that exits between two kindred souls and hearts...

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I do not love you...

by Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.