--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sonnet XXV Before I loved you, love…" description: "\"Sonnet XXV Before I loved you, love, nothing was my own: I wavered through the streets, among Objects: Nothing mattered or had a name: The world was ma..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87f/pablo-neruda-435_abandoned_sonnet-xxv-before-i-loved-you-love-nothi_694901.jpg" --- # Sonnet XXV Before I loved you, love, nothing was my own: I… ![“Sonnet XXV Before I loved you, love, nothing was my own: I wavered through the streets, among Objects: Nothing mattered or had a name: The world was made of air, which waited. I knew rooms full of ashes, Tunnels where the moon lived, Rough warehouses that growled 'get lost', Questions that…” quote by Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87f/pablo-neruda-435_abandoned_sonnet-xxv-before-i-loved-you-love-nothi_694901.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87f/pablo-neruda-435_abandoned_sonnet-xxv-before-i-loved-you-love-nothi_694901.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87f/pablo-neruda-435_abandoned_sonnet-xxv-before-i-loved-you-love-nothi_694901.jpg) > “Sonnet XXV Before I loved you, love, nothing was my own: I wavered through the streets, among Objects: Nothing mattered or had a name: The world was made of air, which waited. I knew rooms full of ashes, Tunnels where the moon lived, Rough warehouses that growled 'get lost', Questions that insisted in the sand. Everything was empty, dead, mute, Fallen abandoned, and decayed: Inconceivably alien, it all Belonged to someone else - to no one: Till your beauty and your poverty Filled the autumn plentiful with gifts.” [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Love transforms a barren, empty existence into a vibrant, shared experience, filling life with meaning and generosity. **In simple terms:** Love gives life purpose and richness. Key Takeaway Allow love to fill your world. Themes love transformation emptiness beauty Mood romantic hopeful Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - relationship counseling - artistic inspiration - personal growth Key Concepts existentialism romanticism Questions to Reflect On - What emptiness have you felt before love? - How does love change your perception of scarcity? A Different Perspective Love alone may not solve all hardships. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Aliens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aliens/) [Ashes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ashes/) [Autumn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autumn/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moon/) [Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/) [Sonnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sonnet/) [Streets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/streets/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“Sonnet LXXXI And now you're mine. Rest with your dream in my dream. Love and pain and work should all sleep, now. The night…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/sonnet-lxxxi-and-now-you-re-mine-rest-with-your-dream-in-my-dream/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“Sonnet XVII I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/sonnet-xvii-i-do-not-love-you-as-if-you-were-salt-rose-or-topaz-or/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [I built up these lumber piles of love, and with fourteen boards each I built little houses, so that your eyes, which I adore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-built-up-these-lumber-piles-of-love-and-with-fourteen-boards-each-i/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [You must know that I do not love and that I love you, because everything alive has its two sides; a word is one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/you-must-know-that-i-do-not-love-and-that-i-love-you-because/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [Slanders, sir, for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging think amber…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/slanders-sir-for-the-satirical-rogue-says-here-that-old-men-have-grey/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Food insecurity and hunger are serious threats to children's health, growth, and development. The idea of not being able to put plentiful, nutritious food…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samantha-harris/food-insecurity-and-hunger-are-serious-threats-to-children-s-health/) Samantha Harris > [For those dependent on their gardens for fresh food, it was often a case of feast or famine... (One settler wrote), "Strawberries were now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bee-dawson/for-those-dependent-on-their-gardens-for-fresh-food-it-was-often-a/) [Bee Dawson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bee-dawson/) > [This could be our revolution: to love what is plentiful as much as what's scarce.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-walker/this-could-be-our-revolution-to-love-what-is-plentiful-as-much-as/) [Alice Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-walker/) > [Work is hard. Distractions are plentiful. And time is short.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-hochschild/work-is-hard-distractions-are-plentiful-and-time-is-short/) [Adam Hochschild](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-hochschild/) > [To vest a few fallible men — prosecutors, judges, jurors — with vast powers of literary or artistic censorship, to convert them into what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-frank/to-vest-a-few-fallible-men-prosecutors-judges-jurors-with-vast-powers/) [Jerome Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerome-frank/) > [Stupidity is the basic building block of the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-zappa/stupidity-is-the-basic-building-block-of-the-universe/) [Frank Zappa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-zappa/) > [The Sundaies of man's life, Thredded together on time's string, Make bracelets to adorn the wife Of the eternal, glorious King. On Sunday heaven's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-herbert/the-sundaies-of-man-s-life-thredded-together-on-time-s-string-make/) [George Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-herbert/) > [Here on the edge of the river, the motifs are very plentiful, the same subject seen from a different angle gives a subject for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-cezanne/here-on-the-edge-of-the-river-the-motifs-are-very-plentiful-the-same/) [Paul Cezanne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-cezanne/) > [Excitement was plentiful during my two years' service as a Pony Express rider.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/buffalo-bill/excitement-was-plentiful-during-my-two-years-service-as-a-pony/) [Buffalo Bill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/buffalo-bill/) > [While not widely reported, our victories in Iraq are plentiful. National elections, a democratic parliament and the drafting of a constitution are just some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-gillmor/while-not-widely-reported-our-victories-in-iraq-are-plentiful/) [Paul Gillmor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-gillmor/) ## More by Pablo Neruda > [For me writing is like breathing. I could not live without breathing and I could not live without writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/for-me-writing-is-like-breathing-i-could-not-live-without-breathing/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [You know how this is: if I look at the crystal moon, at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/you-know-how-this-is-if-i-look-at-the-crystal-moon-at-the-red-branch/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [Our love was born outside the walls, in the wind, in the night, in the earth, and that's why the clay and the flower,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/our-love-was-born-outside-the-walls-in-the-wind-in-the-night-in-the/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“I remember only a day that was perhaps never intended for me, it was an incessant day, without origins, Thursday. I was a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-remember-only-a-day-that-was-perhaps-never-intended-for-me-it-was/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“We had, as men, time So our thirst could slowly be satisfied, the ancestral longing to enumerate things and sum them up, to render…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/we-had-as-men-time-so-our-thirst-could-slowly-be-satisfied-the/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [We bear the sole, relentless tenderness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/we-bear-the-sole-relentless-tenderness/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [I don't know who it is who lives or dies, who rests or wakes, but it is your heart that distributes all the graces…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-don-t-know-who-it-is-who-lives-or-dies-who-rests-or-wakes-but-it-is/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“Body of a woman, white hills, white thighs, you look like a world, lying in surrender. My rough peasant's body digs in you and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/body-of-a-woman-white-hills-white-thighs-you-look-like-a-world-lying/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [We open the halves of a miracle, and a clotting of acids brims into the starry divisions: creation's original juices, irreducible, changeless, alive: so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/we-open-the-halves-of-a-miracle-and-a-clotting-of-acids-brims-into/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“Take bread away from me, if you wish, take air away, but do not take from me your laughter. 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Love is so short, forgetting is so long.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-am-no-longer-in-love-with-her-that-s-certain-but-maybe-i-love-her/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“Body of a woman, white hills, white thighs, you look like a world, lying in surrender.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/body-of-a-woman-white-hills-white-thighs-you-look-like-a-world-lying-2/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“ I Like For You To Be Still I like for you to be still It is as though you are absent And you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-like-for-you-to-be-still-i-like-for-you-to-be-still-it-is-as-though/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“Tonight I Can Write”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/tonight-i-can-write/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) [Explore all 457 Pablo Neruda quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) ## More Abandoned quotes > [“I'm surprised when I walk right into yet another abandoned hunters' camp. 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Through the support I think the sacrifices will be made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacie-orrico/we-should-be-recklessly-abandoned-to-jesus-and-just-turn-it-over-to/) [Stacie Orrico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacie-orrico/) > [In the eyes of those lovers of perfection, a work is never finished a word that for them has no sense but abandoned; and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/in-the-eyes-of-those-lovers-of-perfection-a-work-is-never-finished-a/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [The whole force of the respectable circles to which I belonged, that respectable circle which knew as I did notthe value of security won,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-tarbell/the-whole-force-of-the-respectable-circles-to-which-i-belonged-that/) [Ida Tarbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-tarbell/) > [Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. 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