The Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) wrote volumes of odes, paying homage to just about anything in his life – a table, bread, a road trip, a place remembered, the past, the present. Here’s a short passage from ‘Ode to the Present’ which struck me for the shapeliness of its words.

Passage from ‘Ode to the Present’ by Pablo Neruda

You are
you present,
your apple:
take it
from your tree,
pick it up
with
your hand,
it shines
like a star,
touch it,
bite it and move on
whistling on the road.