The Full Text of “Tonight I can write the saddest lines”
1Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
2Write, for example, "The night is starry
3and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance."
4The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
5Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
6I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
7Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
8I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
9She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
10How could one not have loved her great still eyes.
11Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
12To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
13To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
14And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
15What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
16The night is starry and she is not with me.
17This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
18My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
19My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
20My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
21The same night whitening the same trees.
22We, of back then, are no longer the same.
23I no longer love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her.
24My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
25Another’s. She will be another’s. As she was before my kisses.
26Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.
27I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her.
28Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
29Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
30my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
31Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
32and these the last verses that I write for her.
The Full Text of “Tonight I can write the saddest lines”
1Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
2Write, for example, "The night is starry
3and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance."
4The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
5Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
6I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
7Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
8I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
9She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
10How could one not have loved her great still eyes.
11Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
12To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
13To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
14And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
15What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
16The night is starry and she is not with me.
17This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
18My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
19My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
20My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
21The same night whitening the same trees.
22We, of back then, are no longer the same.
23I no longer love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her.
24My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
25Another’s. She will be another’s. As she was before my kisses.
26Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.
27I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her.
28Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
29Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
30my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
31Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
32and these the last verses that I write for her.
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“Tonight I can write the saddest lines” Introduction
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“Tonight I can write the saddest lines” Summary
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“Tonight I can write the saddest lines” Themes
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Love, Memory, and Heartache
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The Power of Poetry
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Tonight I can write the saddest lines”
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Lines 1-3
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Write, for example, "The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance." -
Lines 4-6
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too. -
Lines 7-10
Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes. -
Lines 11-14
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture. -
Lines 15-16
What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me. -
Lines 15-20
What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.
This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me. -
Lines 21-24
The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of back then, are no longer the same.
I no longer love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing. -
Lines 25-26
Another’s. She will be another’s. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes. -
Lines 27-30
I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her. -
Lines 29-32
Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.
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“Tonight I can write the saddest lines” Symbols
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The Wind/Singing
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The Night Sky
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“Tonight I can write the saddest lines” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Caesura
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End-Stopped Line
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Juxtaposition
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Paradox
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Personification
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Parallelism
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Repetition
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Simile
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“Tonight I can write the saddest lines” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Dew
- Pasture
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Tonight I can write the saddest lines”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Tonight I can write the saddest lines” Speaker
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“Tonight I can write the saddest lines” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Tonight I can write the saddest lines”
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More “Tonight I can write the saddest lines” Resources
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External Resources
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Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair — The full collection translated by W.S. Merwin.
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Puedo Escribir Los Versos Mas Tristes — Check out the poem in its original Spanish!
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Neruda's Biography — Learn more about Neruda's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of the poem.
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"Romance and Revolution" — Watch a TED-ed presentation about Neruda, deemed here a "romantic and a revolutionary."
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