--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This is what I am, I'll say, to leave…" description: "\"“This is what I am, I'll say, to leave this written excuse. This is my life. Now it is clear this couldn't be done- that in this net it's not just the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bb/pablo-neruda-435_life_this-is-what-i-am-i-ll-say-to-leave-this_1786037.jpg" --- # This is what I am, I'll say, to leave this written excuse… ![“This is what I am, I'll say, to leave this written excuse. This is my life. Now it is clear this couldn't be done- that in this net it's not just the strings that count but the air that escapes through the meshes. Everything else stayed out of reach- time running like a hare across the February…” quote by Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bb/pablo-neruda-435_life_this-is-what-i-am-i-ll-say-to-leave-this_1786037.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bb/pablo-neruda-435_life_this-is-what-i-am-i-ll-say-to-leave-this_1786037.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bb/pablo-neruda-435_life_this-is-what-i-am-i-ll-say-to-leave-this_1786037.jpg) > ““This is what I am, I'll say, to leave this written excuse. This is my life. Now it is clear this couldn't be done- that in this net it's not just the strings that count but the air that escapes through the meshes. Everything else stayed out of reach- time running like a hare across the February dew, and love, best not to talk of love which moved, a swaying of hips, leaving no more trace of all its fire than a spoonful of ash. That's how it is with so many passing things: the man who waited, believing, of course, the woman who was alive and will not be. All of them believed that, having teeth, feet, hands, and language, life was only a matter of honor. This one took a look at history, took in all the victories of the past, assumed an everlasting existence, and the only thing life gave him was his death, time not to be alive, and earth to bury him in the end. But all that was born with as many eyes as there are planets in the firmament, and all her devouring fire ruthlessly devoured her until the end. If I remember anything in my life, it was an afternoon in India, on the banks of a river. They were burning a woman of flesh and bone and I didn't know if what came from the sarcophagus was soul or smoke, until there was neither woman nor fire nor coffin nor ash. It was late, and only the night, the water, the river, the darkness lived on in that death.”” [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. Life’s fleeting nature is likened to fleeting moments, love, and death, emphasizing impermanence and the inevitability of mortality. **In simple terms:** Life is brief and often ignored. Key Takeaway Embrace the present, accept mortality. Themes transience love death memory history Mood reflective melancholic Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - personal journaling - mindful living - creative expression Key Concepts impermanence existentialism reflection Questions to Reflect On - What does impermanence teach about priorities? - How can we honor fleeting moments? A Different Perspective The poetic abstraction may obscure concrete actions for change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“I gave him my death as a gift. And now I'm taking it back.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffany-reisz/i-gave-him-my-death-as-a-gift-and-now-i-m-taking-it-back/) [Tiffany Reisz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffany-reisz/) > [I think it was wonderful when Princess Di died so that everyone could cry in unison. I thought that the crying together was the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sark/i-think-it-was-wonderful-when-princess-di-died-so-that-everyone-could/) [Sark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sark/) > [I feel my dad, I still feel his love, and I still love him. 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You gave me life.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karina-halle/perry-he-said-quietly-his-fingers-trailing-down-the-side-of-my-face/) [Karina Halle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karina-halle/) > [I tended not to give a damn about anything in life because I didn't think life gave a damn about me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-paycheck/i-tended-not-to-give-a-damn-about-anything-in-life-because-i-didn-t/) [Johnny Paycheck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-paycheck/) ## 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. 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When done well, it raises the quality of human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-chabon/entertainment-is-a-sacred-pursuit-when-done-well-when-done-well-it/) [Michael Chabon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-chabon/) > [“There's more to life than you can see. Your sight is limited.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tammy-kling/there-s-more-to-life-than-you-can-see-your-sight-is-limited/) [Tammy Kling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tammy-kling/) > [“I've spent much of my life calling my intuition "something wrong with me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deanna-l-lawlis/i-ve-spent-much-of-my-life-calling-my-intuition-something-wrong-with/) Deanna L. Lawlis > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. 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This is my life. Now it is clear this couldn't be done- that in this net it's not just the strings that count but the air that escapes through the meshes. Everything else stayed out of reach- time running like a hare across the February dew, and love, best not to talk of love which moved, a swaying of hips, leaving no more trace of all its fire than a spoonful of ash. That's how it is with so many passing things: the man who waited, believing, of course, the woman who was alive and will not be. All of them believed that, having teeth, feet, hands, and language, life was only a matter of honor. This one took a look at history, took in all the victories of the past, assumed an everlasting existence, and the only thing life gave him was his death, time not to be alive, and earth to bury him in the end. But all that was born with as many eyes as there are planets in the firmament, and all her devouring fire ruthlessly devoured her until the end. If I remember anything in my life, it was an afternoon in India, on the banks of a river. They were burning a woman of flesh and bone and I didn't know if what came from the sarcophagus was soul or smoke, until there was neither woman nor fire nor coffin nor ash. 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