NIGHT

Pablo Neruda

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I dreamt that I died: that I felt the cold close to me;

And all that was left of my life was contained in your presence:

Your mouth was the daylight and dark of my world,

Your skin the republic I shaped for myself with your kisses.

Straightway, the books of the world were all ended,

All friendships, all treasures restlessly cramming the vaults,

The diaphanous house that we built for a lifetime together –

All ceased to exist, till nothing remained but your eyes.

So long as we live, or as long as a lifetime’s vexation,

Love is a breaker thrown high on the breakers’ successions;

But when death in its time chooses to pummel the doors –

Ay! There is only your face to fill up the vacancy,

Only your clarity pressing back on the whole of non-being,

Only your love, where the dark of the world closes in.