I Do Not Love You

Pablo Neruda was a Nobel Prize–winning Chilean poet who was once called "the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.”

Born in Parral, Chile, on July 12, 1904, poet Pablo Neruda stirred controversy with his affiliation with the Communist Party and his outspoken support of Joseph Stalin, Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro, but his poetic mastery was never in doubt, and for it he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

Neruda died just two years after receiving his Nobel Prize on September 23, 1973, in Santiago, Chile.

This is one of my favorite poems of Pablo Neruda. Since we just passed Valentine’s Day this poem fits perfectly.

I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You

I do not love you except because I love you; I go from loving to not loving you, From waiting to not waiting for you My heart moves from cold to fire. I love you only because it's you the one I love; I hate you deeply, and hating you Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you, Is that I do not see you but love you blindly. Maybe January light will consume, My heart with its cruel Ray, stealing my key to true calm. In this part of the story I am the one who Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you, Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.

Neruda is saying that love is not perfect or ideal. Love is great and painful. You can leave everything when you are in love without fear. In the poem he is the one who dies. There is always someone who is willing to do more for that person, to strive to remain by his/her side, in peace and harmony.

This might be your case. It is Saturday Feb. 14th and you are with your significant other. If you are single in love and ready to be happy the rest of your days. If you are married your honey perhaps gives you flowers, chocolates or even something fantastic that you will never imagine. A day or two pass and you realize that everything was a marketing strategy. Happiness only lasted for two days. It should not be like that. Every day is a good day to love and to be loved. Technology and marketing are extinguishing the meaning of Valentine’s Day and any other celebration in this world. Love-Peace-and-Rock.

Works Cited

"Pablo Neruda." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 344-345. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 15 Feb. 2015.

Neruda, Pablo. "I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You." Poem Hunter. Poem Hunter, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2015.