Friday, January 28, 2011

Poetry Friday: Ode to the Lizard

I finished reading The Dreamer this week. It's a fictionalized biography of Pablo Neruda, and at the end there are some of Neruda's poems. I loved the book (here's my review) and I love this poem:



Ode to the Lizard
Pablo Neruda (translated by Margaret Peden)

On the sand
a
lizard
with a sandy tail.
Beneath
a leaf,
a leaflike
head.

From what planet,
from what
cold green ember
did you fall?
From the moon?
From frozen space?
Or from
the emerald
did your color
climb the vine?

On a rotting
tree trunk
you are
a living
shoot,
arrow
of its foliage.
On a stone
you are a stone
with two small, ancient
eyes -
eyes of the stone.
By the
water
you are
silent, slippery
slime.
To
a fly
you are the dart
of an annihilating dragon.

Here's today's Poetry Friday roundup.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

"cold green ember" Neruda makes language swoon.

Tara said...

I just had to keep repeating "silent, slithery slime" - wonderful!

Sherry said...

I'm glad you enjoyed the book, and I'm glad I was able to think to send it to you.

Tabatha said...

That is fabulous! I'll go read your review of the book now.

Sarah SSM said...

I loved the lizards in Haiti! Once in a while one would startle me in the shower, but I had to forgive them because the rest of the time I enjoyed them so much. And I love the ubiquitous metal ones, too, and brought many home for gifts at the end of the summer. Thank you for sharing the poem and photo.

Unknown said...

it waz coll