Pablo Neruda: When I die I want your hands on my eyes
12 February 2007
When I die I want your hands on my eyes:
I want the light and the wheat of your beloved hands
to pass their freshness over me one more time
to feel the smoothness that changed my destiny.
I want you to live while I wait for you, asleep,
I want for your ears to go on hearing the wind,
for you to smell the sea that we loved together
and for you to go on walking the sand where we walked.
I want for what I love to go on living
and as for you I loved you and sang you above everything,
for that, go on flowering, flowery one,
so that you reach all that my love orders for you,
so that my shadow passes through your hair,
so that they know by this the reason for my song.
--Pablo Neruda, Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada. Cien Sonetos de Amor. Plaza y Janés. Ave Fénix 205-2. Sexta edición, junio 1998.
LXXXIX
Cuando yo muera quiero tus manos en mis ojos:
quiero la luz y el trigo de tus manos amadas
pasar una vez más sobre mí su frescura:
sentir la suavidad que cambió mi destino.
Quiero que vivas mientras yo, dormido, te espero,
quiero que tus oídos sigan oyendo el viento,
que huelas el aroma del mar que amamos juntos
y que sigas pisando la arena que pisamos.
Quiero que lo que amo siga vivo
y a ti te amé y canté sobre todas las cosas,
por eso sigue tú floreciendo, florida,
para que alcances todo lo que mi amor te ordena,
para que se pasee mi sombra por tu pelo,
para que así conozcan la razón de mi canto.
Beautiful! I almost cryed when i read it...I love your poems Pablo...brava! :]
Posted by: Paige | 26 March 2009 at 01:23
This poem is astoundingly beautiful. Morten Lauridsen set the text, its called Soneto de la noche. The poem is full of such depth and passion.
Posted by: Sean B | 11 February 2010 at 22:15
In the sheet music for Lauridsen's setting of this poem, a note appended to the first three words, "Cuando yo muero," says that "Neruda specifically and intentionally uses "muero" instead of "muera" in this poem. Can anyone tell a linguistically challenged reader/singer what difference this makes? And what Neruda might have intended by insisting on "muero" rather than "muera"?
Posted by: K. M. Sanderson | 02 April 2010 at 03:22
"Cuando yo muera" has the verb in the subjunctive tense-- or here you might call it a speculative tense: "someday if I am dying...." But instead Neruda uses "muero" "I die" as in, his death will definitely happen, and when it does....
It's a bit obscure to us English-speakers. Our subjunctive has mostly died out. It's like the difference between "if he were" and "if he was."
Posted by: Sedulia | 02 April 2010 at 13:01
As a spanish graduate and a singer, I have to disagree with KM Sanderson. Cuando me muero can only mean "when I die (on a regular basis) and not that his death will def happen. Subjunctive means that regardless of whether or not he intends to die, he has not done so , therefore it HAS to remain subjunctive. I think Laurdison changed it simply because poetically "me muero sounds better with the Cuando.. both letters o flowing more freely
Posted by: cnelson | 20 April 2010 at 02:06
The words above do say "muera.". Thwt would be correct grammatically. The word cuado/when takes th subjunctive When the action is in the future. Cuando is only used with present indicative for a habitual action, for ex., "when it rains" assuming you are referring to something habitual. If younused the subjunctive, it would mean the next time it rains, whenever thwt might be. There will be a death, but the time of it is indefinite. Now, which one did Neruda use? I don't know. I'd need to see it in his real, editd book as opposed to on the internet. In ny case, magnificent poem.
Posted by: Profesora lagsrtija | 14 July 2012 at 03:02
I'm a spanish professional singer, the correct words are: "Cuando yo muera...".
In the first edition of the book, in 1959, Neruda says "Cuando yo muera...".
The explanation of "Profesora lagsrtija" is the right one.
Excuse me for my terrible English language use.
P.D.: I paste here the link (in spanish) of a discussion with the right answer.
http://cvc.cervantes.es/foros/leer_asunto1.asp?vCodigo=39936
Posted by: Vicente Martinez Arango | 16 July 2012 at 14:57
our son Gregory died Christmas morning suddenly with us present as his passing, as parents we were privileged to have such a talented, deep soul for his mere 33 years. This song he had sung with the west village chorale years ago, he posted it on his website after the horrific senseless killing of the innocent Conn children. I know he talks to me in this poem, to provide our family as we grieve to provide us with knowing he sleeps and awaits us in paradise. We included it in his memorial tribute.
Posted by: constance niclas | 10 February 2013 at 20:41
I am so sorry about your son. He sounds wonderful. How sad to lose him on Christmas day. At least you were there.
Posted by: Sedulia | 11 February 2013 at 13:39
I've performed most of Lauridsen's works, including "Soneto de la Noche" from "Nocturnes." While the chord structures, melodies, and harmonies are beautiful, the text is a bit clunky. Unstressed syllables become stressed and vice versa. This has the effect of making the phrases choppy. If you aren't familiar with Spanish diction, this may go unnoticed. While Poulenc specifically created asymmetrical phrasing in his "Gloria," the phrasing in the Soneto is unfortunate.
Posted by: AeternaLux | 03 December 2013 at 21:53
How interesting! I've never heard the Soneto. I will go and listen to it now.
Did Neruda write the poem to be sung?
Posted by: Sedulia | 04 December 2013 at 11:59
Sedulia,
I'm not sure if that question was directed at me. Unfortunately, I don't know if Neruda specifically wrote the poetry knowing they would be put into song. It's certainly possible, and there are many precedents for it in music.
For example, the late Robert Shaw was good friends with Paul Hindemeth, and Hindemeth composed his Requiem specifically for Shaw to direct it.
Any poetry written with good meter and lovely text is a good candidate for musical transformation.
The "clunky" text to which I refer is stressed and unstressed syllables. One example in "Soneto" is the word cambio'. The is the past tense of the very "to change" which is 'changed' contextually. The stress is on the final syllable, cam'BYO. The placement of the word in the musical phrasing places the stress on the first syllable CAM-byo, which changes the meaning from 'changed' (as in transformed or transfigured) to 'change' (as in pocket change).
This is not a harsh criticism of the work, rather, it is an example where musical phrasing is not so successful.
Posted by: AeternaLux | 05 December 2013 at 18:15
Speaking of clunky text, I meant "verb," not "very."
Posted by: AeternaLux | 05 December 2013 at 18:15
A beautiful way to ease the pain of your loved ones by knowing your love will always be with them and to keep on living the 'love'.
Posted by: Helen | 16 April 2014 at 05:12
I wrote a song to honor Pablo and this poem. My all time favorite. http://www.consolatio.com/2007/02/neruda_when_i_d.html
Posted by: Rod Russell | 16 February 2015 at 07:54
Moderator sorry...the song I wrote is here titled "When I Die
https://myspace.com/roknrod/music/songs
Posted by: Rod Russell | 16 February 2015 at 08:03
Such a beautiful poem. My searches, at this time that I grieve for a loved one, have brought me this masterpiece. Thank you!
Posted by: Jen | 21 May 2016 at 13:54
Visited Neruda's eclectic house in Santiago with my wife last year during a memorable holiday in Chile. She passed away recently and we shared this beautiful poem at her funeral as part of our tribute to her. A very moving piece.
Posted by: John | 11 February 2017 at 08:32
I wonder about the use of the word "trigo," wheat, in the second line. Does anyone know if that carries some idiomatic meaning in this context? How would that sound, exactly, in Spanish? Does it carry a connotation of softness, perhaps, like flour, or of nutrition/life-giving? Of the fullness or the ripeness of the earth? It just feels like this might have a subtle meaning in Spanish that transcends the idea of "wheat."
Posted by: Lee Fike | 29 May 2017 at 19:16
I don't know the answer that, although I did look it up. Wheat is a symbol of fertility, and also of Easter, and resurrection. But it's hard to know what Neruda meant. Maybe someone else has more information?
Posted by: Sedulia | 20 September 2017 at 03:33
This is the most incredible love poem ever written in any language. To wish such things, to say such things to one's beloved goes to the depth of the soul and beyond. Lauridsen's setting is indeed lovely. If you want to hear another gorgeous setting of this Neruda poem, you must hear Wim Zwaag's, from his "Five Neruda Poems for orchestra and mezzo-soprano." It was written for his wife Anja Wilbrink, the solo artist on the recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa3xxIOBoN8
Posted by: Malcolm Glass | 12 November 2017 at 04:30
I have long wondered if 'Wheat' was meant to be 'Heat'? Has the original meaning been shifted by someone sharing on t'interweb?
Posted by: Maria Byrne | 24 November 2021 at 21:54