ODE TO CLOTHES

Every morning you wait,
clothes, over a chair,
to fill yourself with
my vanity, my love,
my hope, my body.
Barely
risen from sleep,
I relinquish the water,
enter your sleeves,
my legs look for
the hollows of your legs,
and so embraced
by your indefatigable faithfulness
I rise, to tread the grass,
enter poetry,
consider through the windows,
the things,
the men, the women,
the deeds and the fights
go on forming me,
go on making me face things
working my hands,
opening my eyes,
using my mouth,
and so,
clothes,
I too go forming you,
extending your elbows,
snapping your threads,
and so your life expands
in the image of my life.
In the wind
you billow and snap
as if you were my soul,
at bad times
you cling
to my bones,
vacant, for the night,
darkness, sleep
populate with their phantoms
your wings and mine.
I wonder
if one day
a bullet
from the enemy
will leave you stained with my blood
and then
you will die with me
or one day
not quite
so dramatic
but simple,
you will fall ill,
clothes,
with me,
grow old
with me, with my body
and joined
we will enter
the earth.
Because of this
each day
I greet you
with reverence and then
you embrace me and I forget you,
because we are one
and we will go on
facing the wind, in the night,
the streets or the fight,
a single body,
one day, one day, some day, still.

-Pablo Neruda

I chose this ode by Pablo Neruda because I enjoy the fact that he can take something as simple as clothing and turn it into something of far more importance. Throughout Neruda's ode, he emphasizes the importance of his clothing and demonstrates that they are more than just external garments, they are a part of his entire being, his soul. "To fill yourself with my vanity, my love, my hope, my body" (3-5) shows Neruda's love for his clothing and demonstrates just how important his clothing is to him. Clothing is personified within this ode, and he speaks of it as if it were a friend or loved one. If this wasn't titled "Ode to Clothes" I would assume Neruda was talking about a person of great importance in his life.