What does the 17th sonnet by pablo neruda really mean, or how do you interpret it?

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

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

in which there is no I or you

so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand

so intimate that when you fall asleep it is my eyes that close

What does the 17th sonnet by pablo neruda really mean, or how do you interpret it?
It's about profound love, a love that goes past the obvious (and, in a way, superficial) like a precious stone or a flower. Neruda's love is so deep that it penetrates what the eye easily sees to find the mysterious, secret place where true unselfish love lives. And because his love is returned in kind, he and his beloved become one ("no I or you"), inextricable in their intimacy ("your hand...is my hand").

To be loved and to be able to love like this is wonderful!
Reply:I think it means he is in love with someone he cannot show his affections to, because he simply doesn't know how to love. He sees the beauty within his lover, but he keeps his distance because he is foreign to love. Yet, at the same time he believes his love for her is so penetrating that he lives solely to love her.



The tone seems quite sad to me when I read it . . . based on the terms used.