In the movie Patch Adams, Robin Williams tries to read a poem to his girlfriend. He's unable to finish reading it before she dies. In a very moving scene, he reads it at her grave site. The poem is Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda.
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet-diplomat and politician Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971. His book Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924) made Neruda a celebrity. He devoted himself to his poetry. He was also a diplomat and received
the International Peace Prize in 1950.
His piece inspired me to write a love poem to my wife to express unconditional love. I'm not a Nobel Prize winning poet, but this expresses my heart.
I love you not as a bee loves a flower
Only seeking to nourish my hungry soul.
I love you not as an infant loves a parent
Anticipating you to meet my needs and wants.
I love you as you desire
Not to light my personal fire
But to give you wings to fly
To soar into heaven's sky.
I love you not as an emerald or sapphire
A treasure to be on prideful display.
I love you not as a sculpture loves a stone.
Only to chisel you into what I want you to be.
I love you not separate and apart
But as one soul and one heart.
I love you where there is no you or me
But where two intertwine into we.
I love you that when I touch your skin
I feel your spiritual essence deep within.
When my beating heart's blood flows,
I nourish not one but two bodies and souls.
I love you not with expectation nor demand
Not by will nor duty nor command.
I love you simply because I am
And without you, I am not.
