PRECIOUS EXCHANGE
The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda told a beautiful story of an event in his childhood involving an act of spontaneous, unmotivated sharing, of love, which had a wonderful, lasting effect on him and on his work. One time [he wrote], investigating in the backyard of our house in Temuco the tiny objects and minuscule beings of my world, I came upon a hole in one of the boards of the fence. I looked through the hole and saw a landscape like that behind our house, uncared for, and wild. I moved back a few steps, because I sensed vaguely that something was about to happen. All of a sudden a hand appeared–a tiny hand of a boy about my own age. By the time I came close again, the hand was gone, and in its place there was a marvelous white sheep. The sheep’s wool was faded. Its wheels had escaped. All of this only made it more authentic. I had never…
To view this resource, log in or sign up for a subscription plan
