Touchstone: Neruda, For Rudi

Here's another favorite poem from Pablo Neruda: "I have four dogs to declare" / "Declaro cuatro perros." His poem puts me into his sorrow, his attention, his wonder, his love, and this poem puts me into memories of my father, actually, and puts me into my own list of beloved creatures, mostly cats, beginning with Rudi, including Motley, China, Sam, Charlie, and others. Perhaps this poem will engage you and your sorrows--memories, creatures, losses--in a way that proves worthwhile, as I am engaged.

I will quote the poem in William O'Daly's English translation as well as Neruda's original Spanish.

I have four dogs to declare:

one is already buried in the garden,

two others keep me on my toes,

tiny wild

destroyers,

with thick paws and hard canines

like needles of stones.

And one scruffy dog,

aloof,

fair-haired in her gracious manner.

No one hears her smooth golden steps

or her distant presence.

She barks only late at night

at certain phantoms,

so that just a few chosen hidden persons

hear her on the roads

or in other dark places.

Declaro cuatro perros:

uno ya esta enterrado en el jardin,

otros dos me sorprenden,

minusculos salvajes

destructores,

de patas gruesas y colmillos duros

como agujas de roca.

Y una perra grenuda,

distante,

rubia en su cortesia.

No se sienten sus pasos de oro suave,

ni su distante presencia.

Solo ladra muy tarde por la noche

para ciertos fantasmas,

para que solo ciertos ausentes escogidos

la oigan en los caminos

o en otros sitios oscuros.

Neruda, Pablo. The Sea and Bells. Trans. William O'Daly. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 1988.