Pablo Neruda was born Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto in Parral, Chile, in 1904. He served as consul in Burma and held diplomatic posts in various East Asian and European countries. In 1945, a few years after he joined the Communist Party, Neruda was elected to the Chilean Senate. Shortly thereafter, when Chile's political climate took a sudden turn to the right, Neruda fled to Mexico, and lived as an exile for several years. He later established a permanent home at Isla Negra. In 1970 he was appointed as Chile's ambassador to France, and in 1971 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Pablo Neruda died in 1973.

William O'Daly is a poet, translator, and fiction writer. His published works include eight books of translations of the late and posthumous poetry of Chilean Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda, and a chapbook of his own poems, The Whale in the Web. A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, he has worked as a literary and technical editor, a college professor, and an instructional designer; his poems, translations, essays, and reviews have been published in a wide range of magazines and anthologies. He is a board member of Poets Against War and a co-founder of Copper Canyon Press. With co-author Han-ping Chin, he wrote an historical novel, This Earthly Life, based on the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

Other poems by Pablo Neruda (translated by William O'Daly) in Verse Daily:
July 19, 2008:   "Star in Daylight" "O sun full of fingernails..."

Books by Pablo Neruda (translated by William O'Daly):

Other poems on the web by Pablo Neruda (translated by William O'Daly):
"Finale"
Two poems

William O'Daly's Website.

Pablo Neruda According to Wikipedia.

William O'Daly on Facebook.