Colleen Taylor

Today I experienced my second major poem finding success story! This one may be even sweeter than the first, since I've been searching for this poem on and off since I read it once in 9th grade--10 years!-- and the difficulty of my quest was compounded by the fact that it was originally written in Spanish.

But somehow, when I randomly conducted my search tonight (a highly sophisticated method I've developed that is basically typing some general concepts that I'd remembered from the poem into Google) it came right up.  Maybe they really are constantly improving the algorithm over there?

Reading it now, I'm pretty impressed that I was so enraptured with this poem at the age of 15 (when I was very naive to romance, as I would remain for a good number of years thereafter.) I suppose it stuck with me so much because it spoke to exactly what I thought I'd want to find in a future ideal beau-- and I have to say, the 15-year-old me was pretty right on the money. 


Amor Sin Amor (Love Without Love)
By Luis Llorens Torres

I love you, because in my thousand and one nights of dreams,
I never once dreamed of you.
I looked down paths that traveled from afar,
but it was never you I expected.

Suddenly I've felt you flying through my soul
in quick, lofty flight,
and how beautiful you seem way up there, far
from my always idiot heart!

Love me that way, flying over everything.
And, like the bird on its branches, land in my arms
only to rest,
then fly off again.

Be not like the romantic ones who, in love, set me on fire.
When you climb up my mansion,
enter so lightly, that as you enter
the dog of my heart will not bark.