your hands.

When your hands go out, 
love, toward mine, 
what do they bring me flying? 
Why did they stop 
at my mouth, suddenly, 
why do I recognize them 
as if then, before, 
I had touched them, 
as if before they existed 
they had passed over 
my forehead, my waist?

Their softness came 
flying over time, 
over the sea, over the smoke, 
over the spring, and when you placed 
your hands on my chest, 
I recognized those golden
dove wings, 
I recognized that clay 
and that color of wheat.

All the years of my life 
I walked around looking for them. 
I went up the stairs, 
I crossed the roads, 
trains carried me, 
waters brought me,
and in the skin of the grapes 
I thought I touched you. 
The wood suddenly 
brought me your touch, 
the almond announced to me 
your secret softness, 
until your hands 
closed on my chest 
and there like two wings 
they ended their journey.
-pablo neruda

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