“For me, writing is like breathing. I could not live without breathing, and I could not live without writing,” Pablo Neruda said in an interview with the Paris Review.

His words, inspiring and emotional, evoke a visceral reaction in many of us. The Chilean poet brings passion to life as his words scorch the paper they’re written on—melting the distance between us, connecting us in the most basic human way—the joy and pain of loves, both lived and lost.

Whether it’s a blossoming love or one that’s faded into the story of our lives, his words pierce our hearts as we bleed sorrow and joy all over his pages.

In darkness or light—mending a broken heart, or gently handing it to a new love— Pablo Neruda’s words reach into our souls and remind us that whether tears of joy or sadness, love and passion are to be cherished.

“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.”

“Someday, somewhere—anywhere, unfailingly, you’ll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life.”

“As if you were on fire from within. The moon lives in the lining of your skin.”

“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way than this: where I does not exist, nor you, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.”

“So I wait for you like a lonely house till you will see me again and live in me. Till then my windows ache.”

“In this part of the story I am the one who dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you, because I love you, Love, in fire and in blood.”

“Tonight I can write the saddest lines. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.”

“Then love knew it was called love. And when I lifted my eyes to your name, suddenly your heart showed me my way.”

“If each day falls inside each night, there exists a well where clarity is imprisoned. We need to sit on the rim of the well of darkness and fish for fallen light with patience.”

“To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life.”

“And one by one the nights between our separated cities are joined to the night that unites us.”

“Don’t leave me, even for an hour, because then the little drops of anguish will all run together, the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift into me, choking my lost heart.”

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