

While things are settling down
here I’ve left my testament
my shifting extravagaria
So whoever goes on reading it will never take in anything
except the constant moving of a clear and bewildered man
a man rainy and happy
lively and autumn-minded. And now I’m going behind
this page, but not disappearing
I’ll dive into clear air
like a swimmer in the sky
and then get back to growing
til one day I’m so small
that the wind will take me away
and I won’t know my own name
and I won’t be there when I wake
Then I will sing the silences
Pablo Neruda
Autumn Testament