One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII by Pablo Neruda: Poetry Analysis

I'm not sure when I'll be able to get to this analysis, but I adore Pablo Neruda so I figure I needed to at least post this poem and share it with my fellow Lit students.

This was the Poetry Foundation's Poem of the Day for Tuesday, September 23rd.

One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII

BY PABLO NERUDA

I don't love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,   

or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:   

I love you as one loves certain obscure things,   

secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom but carries   

the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,   

and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose   

from the earth lives dimly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,   

I love you directly without problems or pride:

I love you like this because I don't know any other way to love,

except in this form in which I am not nor are you,   

so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,   

so close that your eyes close with my dreams.