Life &Poetry Entropy | 15 Aug 2008
Too Many Names
Mondays are meshed with Tuesdays
and the week with the whole year.
Time cannot be cut
with your weary scissors,
and all the names of the day
are washed out by the waters of night.
No one can claim the name of Pedro,
nobody is Rosa or Maria,
all of us are dust or sand,
all of us are rain under rain.
They have spoken to me of Venezuelas,
of Chiles and of Paraguays;
I have no idea what they are saying.
I know only the skin of the earth
and I know it is without a name.
When I lived amongst the roots
they pleased me more than flowers did,
and when I spoke to a stone
it rang like a bell.
It is so long, the spring
which goes on all winter.
Time lost its shoes.
A year is four centuries.
When I sleep every night,
what am I called or not called?
And when I wake, who am I
if I was not while I slept?
This means to say that scarcely
have we landed into life
than we come as if new-born;
let us not fill our mouths
with so many faltering names,
with so many sad formallities,
with so many pompous letters,
with so much of yours and mine,
with so much of signing of papers.
I have a mind to confuse things,
unite them, bring them to birth,
mix them up, undress them,
until the light of the world
has the oneness of the ocean,
a generous, vast wholeness,
a crepitant fragrance.
on 16 Aug 2008 at 12:44 pm 1.Max Babi said …
Ajay,
at my age and reading experience, it would be rare to find such a five star poem as
not listed in my personal favourites. I discovered this in a collection by Neruda, whom
I used to worship during my bubbling boiling adolescence -surrounded by 55 artists,
scientists, thinkers, visionaries…at Baroda. Circa 1975-76. Used to read this out to some
very witty, scholarly and pretty young things many of whom still are fond of me, thanks to
Pablo Neruda. Thank you for pointing out to me, it is a hard hitting poem.
Regds
Max
on 16 Aug 2008 at 7:25 pm 2.Sandy said …
Ajay–
I love this one! As always, your blog invites deep reflection, a smile of understanding, appreciation for the variety and wonder of your thinking.
Warm blessings,
Sandy
on 17 Aug 2008 at 6:58 am 3.Sonya Rose said …
What a deep poem, like the ocean itself. Thank you for sharing, Ajay … “Too Many Names” made a wonderful read this evening.
If you pause and think about life for a moment: How many people have we come across so far in our journey? The answer would probably be “many” and one may recall a face but forget the name or vice versa or can totally forget the person (name, face) or something he/she did that may have been quite significant in some way (and by all means, it’s so understandable because we live in such a fast paced world, hard to keep up with all the changes) … and meditating … writing poetry … or writing our life stories can make us more aware of life’s meaning and our interconnections … gives birth, new meaning to our lives. Reminds me of:
“May Sarton”
… without darkness
Nothing comes to birth,
As without light
Nothing flowers.
Many Blessings to you~
on 19 Aug 2008 at 12:28 am 4.michele roohani said …
“let us not fill our mouths
with so many faltering names,
with so many sad formalities,
with so many pompous letters,
with so much of yours and mine,
with so much of signing of papers…”
the great master, NERUDA, has said it elegantly, succinctly, poetically – now imagine reading this in spanish or better listening to Neruda recite it in his mother tongue…
on 30 Aug 2008 at 6:57 pm 5.Purnima said …
A PROFOUNDLY SIMPLE poem__an antithesis though this may sound, thats exactly what I felt on reading it.Neruda has used confusing images to drive in a clear meaning. Its amazing how anyone can write like this! Thanks for insisting that I read it, Ajay !!