i suddenly remembered this - two years and i still knew the opening line. i think i really liked it. it's no becquer but close enough. for me.

puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.

escribir, por ejemplo: "la noche está estrellada,
y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos."

el viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.

puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso.

en las noches como esta la tuve entre mis brazos.
la besé tantas veces bajo el cielo infinito.

ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería.
cómo no haber amado sus grandes ojos fijos.

puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
pensar que no la tengo. sentir que la he perdido.

oir la noche inmensa, más inmensa sin ella.
y el verso cae al alma como al pasto el rocío.

qué importa que mi amor no pudiera guardarla.
la noche esta estrellada y ella no está conmigo.

eso es todo. a lo lejos alguien canta. a lo lejos.
mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.

como para acercarla mi mirada la busca.
mi corazón la busca, y ella no está conmigo.

la misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos árboles.
nosotros, los de entonces, ya no somos los mismos.

ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero cuánto la quise.
mi voz buscaba el viento para tocar su oído.

de otro. será de otro. como antes de mis besos.
su voz, su cuerpo claro. sus ojos infinitos.

ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero.
es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.

porque en noches como esta la tuve entre mis brazos,
mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.

aunque este sea el ultimo dolor que ella me causa,
y estos sean los ultimos versos que yo le escribo.

-pablo neruda

(and of course, i need the english as well)

i could write the saddest verses tonight.

writing, for example "the night is sprinkled
with stars sparkling blue, far away".

the night wind whirls in the sky and sings.

i could write the very saddest verses tonight
i loved her and at times she also loved me.

on nights like this i had her in my arms.
i kissed her so many times under the infinite sky.

she loved me, at times i also loved her
how could i not love her big staring eyes?

i could write the very saddest verses tonight.
to think i don't have her. to feel that i have lost her.

to hear the immense night, even more immense without her.
and the verses fall on the soul like dew on the pasture.

why does it matter that my love couldn't keep her?
the night is full of stars and she's not with me.

that's all. far off someone is singing. far off
my love is not used to having lost her.

how my glance looks for her to get close to her.
my heart looks for her and she's not with me.

the same night that turns the same trees white.
we aren't now the same way we were then.

i no longer love her, that's certain, but how much i loved her.
my voice searched on the wind to touch her ear.

someone else's, she's someone else's. like before i kissed her.
her voice, her bright body. her infinite eyes.

i no longer love her, that's certain, but perhaps i love her
love lasts so short and forgetting takes so long.

but on nights like this i had her in my arms
my heart is not used to having lost her.

although this may be the last pain that she causes me
and these may be the last verses that i write her.

(from 20 poems of love, and one of desperation)

i realized that i just took up an incredible amount of blog space with spacing and such. but i refuse to delete everything i just spent the past 20 minutes typing.