<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">The Letter I Never Wrote to Pablo Neruda</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><b class=""></b><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><b class=""></b><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Dear Pablo, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Because you dared to love Matilde</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">without knowing how, or when, or from where,</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I, too, became the unblooming reed</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">that carries inside it the radiance of summer days,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the luminosity of moon, the glittering secrets of stars. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I, too, believed I could be worthy of devotion </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">despite my darkness, because my darkness, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">because my shadows, because my shame. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I embraced love as wood instead of crystal—</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">something growing, something vital,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">something solid and difficult to break. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Because you spilled love into ink, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I learned your love by heart.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Your words caressed me and drenched me</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">like late summer rain, they carried me</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">through gloomy rooms and moonless years. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Because you dared to deeply love one woman,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">you touched the soul of this other woman,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and I, too, know, because of you,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the perfume of dark carnation, the ripe apple</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of happiness, the bliss of being spread out</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">on a blanket of ancient night, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">a kiss that transcends borders and centuries, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the gift of a love so obscure it resists translation, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the gift of a love so personal </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">it invites the rest of the world. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">*with references to Love Sonnets XII and XVII</i></div><div class=""><i class=""><br class=""></i></div></div></body></html>