The Heights of Macchu Picchu

A poem in twelve canticles, The Heights of Macchu Picchu is perhaps Pablo Neruda's greatest contribution to poetry. This new stand-alone translation of the second section of his masterful Canto general proves the continued relevance and power of political verse.

Inspired by Neruda's journey to the ancient ruins, 'The Heights of Macchu Picchu' is a poem for the laborers and the forgotten victims of empire in the Americas. Considering the wonder and beauty of this Incan citadel, he sees through to the suffering of those who built it. "I sank my muddy and gentle hand / into the precious treasure of the earth," he says:

I dipped my forehead between the deep waves,

I ran like a single drop in peaceful sulfur,

and, like a blind man, returned to the jasmine

of our depleted human spring.