It Remains Forbidden

—after Pablo Neruda

Since that gracious Chilean first

set down his most gracious tenets,

I fear that we’ve grown neglectful

of his wisdom and our duty.

It is—now and ever after—

forbidden to hate the hateful,

forbidden to resent those who

wallow in their dear resentments,

forbidden ever to eclipse

the needs of others in some bleak

grasp at self-assurance, or self-

protection. The implication

at the heart of his every

admonition is the wisdom

that each of us is utterly

bound to every other, that each

suffers all others’ sufferings,

and each is blessed by every

blessing—all of them undeserved.