Keeping Quiet
Keeping Quiet is one of the most popular poems of Pablo Neruda who was a well-known and famous Poet, diplomat, and senator. His real name is Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto but he is popular as Pablo Neruda.
Pablo Neruda is his pen name. This poem is based on the thought of the need of maintaining peace and silence in this world where everyone is busy fighting and arguing with each other. He suggests that in order to maintain peace and harmony, it is required to stop and introspect ourselves.
Keeping Quiet Poem Lyrics in English
Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still
for once on the face of the earth,
let’s not speak in any language;
let’s stop for a second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would not look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about…
If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with
death.
Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.
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