People always talk about how beautiful the water is in the Philippines. While that is true with its unparalleled blues, I can’t help but look up more than down.
It’s the sky that took my breath away. The pastel palette of cotton candy and orange sherbet sunsets, the burnt umber in the last vestiges of daylight, and the crystal clear blues of a cloudless sky. It invites contemplation.
That is why I am sharing these photos alongside poems from Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions.
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda is a world renown Chilean poet who wrote about love, nature, existence, politics, and the ordinary. The first book of his poetry that I bought was a thin volume. I can’t even remember the title, but I used to pick it up and turn to a random page for inspiration. I still have the book, it is carefully packed with my other books back in the US.
These poems are translated into English by William O’Daly and the original Spanish poems are included at the bottom of this post. I am neither a scholar nor an expert of this Nobel Prize winner; I simply enjoy the simultaneous simplicity and depth of his verses. The Book of Questions helped me find words to express questions of my own.
The poems in English
Book of Questions: Poem IX
Is the sun the same as yesterday's
or is this fire different from that fire?
How do we thank the clouds
for their fleeting abundance?
From where does the thundercloud come
with its black sacks of tears?
Where are all those names
sweet as cakes of yesteryear?
Where did they go, the Donaldas,
the Clorindas, the Eduvigises?
Book of Questions: Poem XLI
How long does a rhinoceros last
after he's moved to compassion?
What's new for the leaves
of recent spring?
In winter, do the leaves live
in hiding with the roots?
What did the tree learn from the earth
to be able to talk with the sky?
Book of Questions: Poem XXIX
What is the distance in round meters
between the sun and the oranges?
Who wakes up the sun when it falls asleep
on its burning bed?
Does the earth sing like a cricket
in the music of the heavens?
Is it true that sadness is thick
and melancholy thin?
Los poemas en español
Book of Questions: Poem IX
Es este mismo el sol de ayer
o es otro el fuego de su fuego?
Cómo agradecer a las nubes
esa abundancia fugitiva?
De dónde viene el nubarrón
con sus sacos negros de llanto?
Dónde están los nombres aquellos
dulces como tortas de antaño?
Dónde se fueron las Donaldas,
las Clorindas, las Eduvigis?
Book of Questions: Poem XLI
Cuánto dura un rinoceronte
después de ser enternecido?
Qué cuentan de nuevo las hojas
de la reciente primavera?
Las hojas viven en invierno
en secreto, con las raíces?
Qué aprendió el árbol de la tierra
para conversar con el cielo?
Book of Questions: Poem XLI
Qué distancia en metros redondos
hay entre el sol y las naranjas?
Quién despierta al sol cuando duerme
sobre su cama abrasadora?
Canta la tierra como un grillo
entre la música celeste?
Verdad que es ancha la tristeza,
delgada la melancolía?
