I Don't Love You As If You Were A Rose

Right now I am obsessed with two things: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I know I'm not an early adopter, but now I'm hooked on the whole series) and the Brooklyn-based band Yeasayer. I can't get enough. And as always, I'm immersed in the study of love through poetry. Below is Neruda's take on the subject. Lovely Kerri, shot by Ben Pigao, with makeup (pretty clean lips and face, classic gold smokey eye) by me.

One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII

I don't love you as if you were a rose

I don't love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,

or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:

I love you as one loves certain obscure things,

secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom but carries

the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,

and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose

from the earth lives dimly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,

I love you directly without problems or pride:

I love you like this because I don't know any other way

       to love,

except in this form in which I am not nor are you,

so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,

so close that your eyes close with my dreams.

-Pablo Neruda