by Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973)
Translation © by Clayton Eshleman (1935 - 2021)
Unidad
Language: Spanish (Español)
Hay algo denso, unido, sentado en el fondo, repitiendo su número, su señal idéntica. Cómo se nota que las piedras han tocado el tiempo, en su fina materia hay olor a edad, y el agua que trae el mar, de sal y sueño. Me rodea una misma cosa, un solo movimiento: el peso del mineral, la luz de la miel, se pegan al sonido de la palabra noche: la tinta del trigo, del marfil, del llanto, envejecidas, desteñidas, uniformes, se unen en torno a mí como paredes. Trabajo sordamente, girando sobre mí mismo, como el cuervo sobre la muerte, el cuervo de luto. Pienso, aislado en lo extremo de las estaciones, central, rodeado de geografía silenciosa: una temperatura parcial cae del cielo, un extremo imperio de confusas unidades se reúne rodeándome.
Text Authorship:
- by Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973), "Unidad", written 1925-1932, appears in Residencia en la tierra [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Clayton Eshleman (1935 - 2021) , "Unity", copyright © 2005 ; composed by Frieda Gustavs.
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-03-07
Line count: 18
Word count: 131
There is something dense, united,...
Language: English  after the Spanish (Español)
There is something dense, united, settled in the depths [ ... ]
About the headline (FAQ)
This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.Text Authorship:
- by Clayton Eshleman (1935 - 2021), "Unity", copyright © 2005 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Spanish (Español) by Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973), "Unidad", written 1925-1932, appears in Residencia en la tierra
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Frieda Gustavs (b. 1996), "United" [ voice and guitar ] [sung text not yet checked]
This text was added to the website: 2026-03-07
Line count: 19
Word count: 135