Ode to the lemon - Pablo Neruda

From those lemon flowersSet free By the light of the moon From that Odor of a love Frustrated, Sunken in fragrance, There came From the Lemon tree its yellow, From its planetary system The lemons came down to the earth.

Tender merchandise! Our shores filled up with it, The markets Of light, of gold From a tree, And we open up The two halves Of a miracle, Congealed acid Which ran From the hemispheres Of a star And the most profound liquor In nature, Unchanging, alive, Indestructible, Born from the freshness Of the lemon, From its fragrant house, From its acid, secret symmetry.

Inside the lemon the knives Cut A small Cathedral, The window hidden behind the altars Opened to the light its glassy acids, And in drops Like topazes they were dripped Onto the altars By the architecture of freshness.

So when your hand Squeezes the hemisphere Of the cut Lemon onto your plate, A universe of gold, You have poured out One Yellow cup Full of miracles One of the sweet-smelling nipples Of the breast of the earth, A ray of light that became a fruit, The diminutive fire of a planet.