neruda's enchanted place...

“I believe that

poetry is an action,

ephemeral or solemn,

in which there

enter as equal partners

solitude and solidarity,

emotion and action,

the nearness to oneself,

the nearness to mankind

and to

the secret manifestations of nature.

And no less strongly I think

that all this is sustained...

by an ever-wider

sense of community,

by an effort which will

forever bring together

the reality and the dreams

in us

because it is precisely

in this way that poetry

unites and mingles them....

“All paths lead to the same goal:

to convey to others

what we are.

And we must pass through

solitude and difficulty,

isolation and silence

in order to reach forth to

the enchanted place

where

we can dance our clumsy dance

and

sing our sorrowful song -

but

in this dance or in this song

there are fulfilled

the most ancient rites

of our conscience

in the awareness of

being human

and

of believing in

a common destiny.”