Tuesday, September 30, 2008

You're the Result of Yourself

Pablo Neruda


Don't blame anyone, never complain of anyone or anything

Because basically you have made of your life what you wanted.

Accept the difficulties of edifying yourself

And the worth of starting to correct your character.

The triumph of the true man arises from the ashes of his mistakes.

Never complain of your loneliness or your luck.

Face it with courage and accept it.

Somehow, they are the result of your acts and

It shows that you'll always win.

Don't feel frustrated of your own failures, neither unload them to someone else.

Accept yourself now or you'll go on justifying yourself like a child.

Remember that any time is good to start

And that no time is so good to give up.

Don't forget that the cause of your present is your past,

As the cause of your future will be your present.

Learn from the brave, from the strong,

From who doesn't accept situations

From who will live in spite of everything.

Think less of your problems and more of your work.

Learn to arise from your pain,

And to be greater than the greatest of your obstacles.

Look at the mirror of yourself and you'll be free and strong

And you'll stop being a puppet of circumstances.

For you yourself are your destiny.

Wake up and stare at the sun in the mornings and breathe the sun of dawn.

You're part of the strength of your life now,

Rise up, fight, walk, be sure and you'll win in life.

Don't ever think of 'fate'

For fate is the excuse of failures.

This poem is reprinted without permission or apology. It inspired me this morning and I hope it inspires someone else.

19 comments:

  1. So True.
    Thanks for sharing. I am inspired.
    ~kim

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  2. Very inspiring poem. Thanks for sharing.

    Brian

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  3. Poem? Nah! That's no poem! It doesn't even rhyme! Those lines were taken from fortune cookies.

    To sum it up: We create our own destiny. There. Tell that to Pablo. The dude could have saved a whole sheet of paper by losing the redundancy.

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    1. Greetings Deb.
      Poems are not about rhyming, although there is nothing wrong with doing so naturally and organically. Poems are about expressing oneself from the heart: giving Voice to both the obvious and obscure, causing the point to be more poignant. Pablo Neruda is a Chilean poet. Much of his work is written in Spanish, the language he is probably more fluid in expressing his thoughts. The original, "No Culpes A Nadie" may appeal to you more, if you are multilingual...

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  4. Was a big eye opener to our own lifes and why and how they are the way they're are. Thank you for sharing. It was bueatiful.

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  5. i think you'd like Existentialism a lot. It can be summed in two words: "no excuses." I create myself and am completely responsible for myself, and i am never free to place blame upon anyone else for whatever situation i find myself. It's very sobering, yet very inspiring. See Sartre.

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  6. Several years ago, one of my best friend from childhood introduced me to Pablo Neruda.

    It's been at least six years since that introduction, and I have not read anything further since. Thanks for reminding me how special his work is. This is a great piece.

    http://www.theviewfromoutsidemytinywindow.blogspot.com

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  7. This one goes up on the wall to look at each morning. Thanks.
    John
    http://universalgojusensei.blogspot.com/

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  8. This is awesome. I like to keep things I can relate and inspire myself to. Keeping this one. Hanging it near my desk at work.

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  9. Thanks for the comment on my blog. Quite frankly Vincent, your contribution of Neruda's work may become the most frequently visited piece on our blog to date. It's pretty powerful. We've spent months and thousands of words to express a concept which he managed to express in so few. Thanks.

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  10. wonderful words. thanks for sharing.

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  11. A favorite of mine!
    That and the "Desiderata"

    Peace - Rene

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  12. Thank you for a wonderful reminder - and just when I needed it.

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  13. Neruda is even cooler in Spanish and even cooler when he's reading it (there is an out of print CD in the Phoenix public library of him doing his own poems, you should check it out if you ever get by there - or somewhere else that has it - his voice is so melodic, so haunting). Thanks for sharing.

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  14. Vince, I have found another occasion to direct folks to your blog to read this Pablo Neruda piece. Expect to have to some new traffic in the next day or two.

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  15. What is the name of this poem in the original Spanish and who translated it? I'd love to see the credit for the translation!

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  16. I just already came American, speaking broken English which was a phrase that I always use to justified my problem. I completely dumb after I read this poem.

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