Unity


by Pablo Neruda

translated by Clayton Eshleman





There is something dense, united, settled in the depths,

repeating its number, its identical sign.

How it is noted that stones have touched time,

in their refined matter there is an odor of age,

of water brought by the sea, from salt and sleep.



I'm encircled by a single thing, a single movement:

a mineral weight, a honeyed light

cling to the sound of the word "noche":

the tint of wheat, of ivory, of tears,

things of leather, of wood, of wool,

archaic, faded, uniform,

collect around me like walls.



I work quietly, wheeling over myself,

a crow over death, a crow in mourning.

I mediate, isolated in the spread of seasons,

centric, encircled by a silent geometry:

a partial temperature drifts down from the sky,

a distant empire of confused unities

reunites encircling me.