Me gusta cuando callas - I like you when you're quiet - Pablo Neruda - One Spanish Poem a Day (Spanish/English) 18

A series of daily posts with a Spanish poem in its original language and translated into English.

One Spanish poem a day - Un poema al día en Español

Me gustas cuando callas porque estas como ausente,
y me oyes desde lejos, y mi voz no te toca.
Parece que los ojos se te hubieran volado
y parece que un beso te cerrara la boca.

Como todas las cosas estan llenas de mi alma
emerges de las cosas, llena del alma mia.
Mariposa de sueno, te pareces a mi alma,
y te pareces a la palabra melancolia.

Me gustas cuando callas y estas como distante.
Y estas como quejandote, mariposa en arrullo.
Y me oyes desde lejos, y mi voz no te alcanza:
dejame que me calle con el silencio tuyo.

Dejame que te hable tambien con tu silencio
claro como una lampara, simple como un anillo.
Eres como la noche, callada y constelada.
Tu silencio es de estrella, tan lejano y sencillo.

Me gustas cuando callas porque estas como ausente.
Distante y dolorosa como si hubieras muerto.
Una palabra entonces, una sonrisa bastan.
Y estoy alegre, alegre de que no sea cierto.

I like you when you are quiet because it is as though you are absent,
and you hear me from far away, and my voice does not touch you.
It looks as though your eyes had flown away
and it looks as if a kiss had sealed your mouth.

Like all things are full of my soul
You emerge from the things, full of my soul.
Dream butterfly, you look like my soul,
and you look like a melancoly word.

I like you when you are quiet and it is as though you are distant.
It is as though you are complaining, butterfly in lullaby.
And you hear me from far away, and my voice does not reach you:
let me fall quiet with your own silence.

Let me also speak to you with your silence
Clear like a lamp, simple like a ring.
You are like the night, quiet and constellated.
Your silence is of a star, so far away and solitary.

I like you when you are quiet because it is as though you are absent.
Distant and painful as if you had died.
A word then, a smile is enough.
And I am happy, happy that it is not true.

Previous

17. Romance Sonámbulo - Federico García Lorca

16. Se equivocó la Paloma - The Dove was wrong - Rafel Alberti

15. Mañana - Tomorrow - Lope de Vega

14. Si tú me dices ven - If you tell me to come - Amado Ruiz Nervo

13. Hora tras hora, día tras día - Hour after hour, day after day - Rosalía de Castro

12. Una mujer me ha envenenado el alma - A woman has poisoned my soul - Gustavo Adolfo Becquer

11. Como quien oye llover - As one listens to the rain - Octavio Paz

10. Nanas de la cebolla - Onion lullaby - Miguel Hernández

9. Historia de la noche - History of the night - Jorge Luis Borges

8. Romance de la luna, luna! - Federico García Lorca

7. Sinfonía en Gris Mayor - Rubén Darío

6. Si tú me olvidas - If your forget me - Pablo Neruda

5. Juegos de agua - Dulce María Loynaz

4. Al olmo viejo - Antonio Machado

3. Donde habita el olvido - Luis Cernuda

2. Shinto - Jorge Luis Borges

1. Juventud/Youth - Pablo Neruda