forgotten words.

Many things gave me completeness
They did not only touch me
My hand did not merely touch them
but rather
they befriended
     my existence.

~ from ‘Ode to Things’ by Pablo Neruda (cited in ‘Lost in Wonder’ by Esther de Wall)

I stumbled across these words again last week. I keep copying them out into various journals or on the back of envelopes ...and then forget about them, only to find my breath taken away a little when I reread them. In this poem, Neruda is writing about how he loves ordinary things (like cups and coins and spoons and fabric). ‘I love all things...’ he writes.

...not only the grand,
but also the infinite
-ly
small.

I’d like to try and read more poetry over the summer. Poets often have a way of saying things that I’ve always felt deeply, but have never quite known how to say. These words - ‘they befriended my existence’ - when I read them, I feel like I am filled with little bursts of light.

(picture from: Cake with Giants)