Pablo Neruda’s Come I See So You Came Home is a poignant and moving story of loss. It chronicles the years after the dissolution of their marriage, when, as husband and wife, they had both essentially raised themselves from the ashes of their recent loss. Although it seems their separation had been sudden and unanticipated, the couple had truly spent years preparing for their eventual union. It is here that their tale of woe begins, as they learn that their friend, the much loved wife, has been diagnosed with cancer. The words that begin this masterpiece are: “Come on, you’ve got to let me see you smiling again.”
Pablo Neruda draws his imagery of a coming invasion from above, as in the clouds or the sky, through which our protagonist’s friend comes face to face with his impending death. As he rides a bicycle, above, his thoughts are of how best to save his friend who has come to call on him. Above, a series of aerial views takes Neruda to familiar Mexico to attend the funeral of his friend. And there in the center, the black American flag is flying. Above, a series of images to form a montage of memories, as we shift from above to below, beginning with the familiar and ending with the unknown. Pablo Neruda’s Come I See So You Came Home will end not with the sufferer, but with the reader, who is left with the thought, “What a beautiful poem. This must be the most beautiful love story in the history of Western art.”
In my opinion, the heart of this poem is its repetition of the first stanza. This is actually my favorite part of the poem. This repetitive element, like the clouds, reminds us that this is a work of poetry that speaks to us in a language we all understand. And when, at the end, the stars come out, we are reminded that even if we cannot understand what is being said, that we understand that the message is still very much alive.
It is a work that says, “Don’t know what you are looking for?” And it points to the mystery of existence itself. It asks, “How did this come to be?” But most importantly, it reminds us that there is more to life than any of us could ever know, and that the true beauty of it lies within the unknown.
The second stanza begins, “And you were blind, and I forgave you. For you were blind, but now I see.” This too is a work of poetry that asks questions and then offers answers. The stanza closes with, “But you are forgiven, for what you have seen.” And this, again, reminds us that the true beauty of things is in the unknown, and that what we do know, we are simply born with the ability to see more clearly.
The third stanza is called, “A clock had stopped working; the hands had stopped beating; the voice of remembrance…” and it’s a reminder that we don’t know everything, and that our knowledge is not always reliable. The poem works because the central line, “there was nothing more beautiful than the eyes of a child.” This is true for all of us, since all of us have the ability to create beauty in our own minds. And this, again, reminds us that the true beauty lies within the unknown.
And the fourth stanza, “And when your name was called, the spirit came to take you…” is another good one. Here, God takes on human form and allows John to meet his own personal God. In this stanza, the idea is that God is in John’s spirit, and that therefore he can speak to and instruct God. And this, in turn, is just another example of how the unknown can bring us to the light.
And so concludes the fourth stanza of the eleventh verse of Come, See Ye Shall See. It says, “For you are not given the mind of a man, but your mind can understand.” Now, the mind can understand, but one knew that wasn’t really what the Bible was talking about. If you were called “mind” in the Bible, that was a gift given by the omnipotent Creator. If you didn’t know that, you shouldn’t expect to receive anything from Him.
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