your laughter.

take bread away from me, if you wish

take air away, but

do not take from me your laughter.

next to the sea in the autumn,

your laughter must raise

its foamy cascade,

and in the spring, love,

I want your laughter like

the flower I was waiting for,

the blue flower, the rose

of my echoing country.

laugh at the night,

at the day, at the moon,

laugh at the twisted

streets of the island,

laugh at this clumsy

boy who loves you,

but when I open

my eyes and close them,

when my steps go

when my steps return,

deny me bread, air,

light, spring,

but never your laughter

for I would die.

pablo neruda's love poems are just...well, i've never seen better. i wish i was better with words, but alas, as prince hamlet said, "i am ill at these numbers."