Then Come Back

"This is Neruda at his finest, his eloquence and passion skillfully arranged in an accessible yet profound package." --Publishers Weekly

"This brief visit with Neruda ends all too soon, yet reminds one why his work still matters." --Washington Post

"They are vintage Pablo Neruda, literally and figuratively . . . he makes poetry fans swoon." --NPR

This stunning collection gathers never-before-seen poems, discovered within the Pablo Neruda Foundation's archives in Chile. Neruda is renowned for an oeuvre that casts away despair, celebrates living and arises from the belief that there is no insurmountable solitude. Then Come Back presents Pablo Neruda's mature imagination and writing: signature love poems, odes, anecdotal narratives, and poems of the political imagination.

Written on any paper imaginable--napkins, playbills, receipts--and found scattered throughout the Neruda Estate, these poems offer heartache, Chilean pride, and hope found in the changing of the seasons and the chirping of crickets. The acclaimed translator Forrest Gander beautifully renders the eros and heartache, deep wonder, and complex wordplay of the original Spanish, which is presented here alongside full-color reproductions of the poems in their original composition.

From "1"

I touch your feet in the shade, your hands in the light,
and on the flight your peregrine eyes guide me
Matilde, with the kisses your mouth taught me
my lips came to know fire.

Pablo Neruda is one of the world's most beloved and bestselling poets. He won the Nobel Prize in 1971 and died in his native Chile in 1973.