Pablo Neruda wrote many heart-wrenching or soul-lifting poems of romance (or despair). Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair is a good choice – in fact, it is this collection that apparently helped to launch Neruda’s career. Another good Neruda collection is 100 Love Sonnets, which I happen to have - one of my favorite phrases from this book is "the land of kisses and volcanoes" – it comes from a poem that part of goes like this:
"…Woman from Arauco, maybe you didn’t know
how before I loved you I forgot your kisses.
But my heart went on, remembering your mouth — and I went on
and on through the streets like a man wounded, until I understood, Love: I had found my place, a land of kisses and volcanoes."
–
I think if you find a love like that even once – even if it is fleeting – then you can count yourself fortunate in love.
