@DLosc Even villains have to abide by OSHA.

@verbose The Spanish language debate seemed more fun - and more heated ;)

@ClaraDiazSanchez For some value of fun :-) . You speak Spanish natively, yes?

@verbose I do

I'm a native of Madrid

Nice!

So then any opinion you have on the Spanish language debate carries weight as an expert opinion, yes?

On Spanish language, yes. On interpretation- I'm just a simple physics student, not a literature critic

;)

When you say "simple physics student," do you mean "student of simple physics" or "simple student of physics"? Inquiring minds wanna know.

"Consider aspherical cow, uniformly filled with milk" would be some simple physics, I guess

but yes, I'm a simple student

ha, I have a T-shirt that says "spherical cow"

with an appropriate illustration thereof

it was from a physics student society

that someone I know belonged to

Yup, it's a famous quote

I don't know why Neruda dropped the "hasta" in the first line of the poem. It makes it sound odd

You could ask on LitSE 😁

Lambie already pointed it out, and got shouted at (well, down-voted anyway)

Lambie got downvoted because he insists that there's no clock reference in the poem, without explaining what makes that interpretation wrong. He has no alternative reference to offer, he just says "the poem isn't about a clock."

But I mean, let's not start that debate again ....

Oh let's, let's!

(actually, let's not)

but going back to look at the original text instead of the translation is a perfectly sensible suggestion

@ClaraDiazSanchez yes, of course. But what's the point of going back to the original text if you don't use that to illuminate anything? "Here is the original poem and a bunch of commentary, and it doesn't answer the question OP asked" is not much of an answer. (Besides, the closed question about the same poem also had an answer that referenced the original. That one at least tried to make sense of the poem.)

@verbose I just went back to read the poem with a (hopefully) clear mind, and I didn't get any sense of a clock either. I did get transported back to nursery, where boisterous kids (never me of course!) would be told to turn and face the wall and count slowly to 10, as a way of calming us down

of course that doesn't explain why Neruda used "12", which would be better explained by your answer

@verbose In re: your comment that you don't know anyone under 35 who's ever bought an analog clock, I'm 32 and I've bought one. I grew up with a clock hanging on the wall in my bedroom, and while there isn't a good place to hang one in my current room, I still like having it sitting on my chest of drawers. But you don't exactly know me, so I'm not a counterexample. :)

Granted, also, that 32 is pretty close to 35.

@ClaraDiazSanchez that's a good interpretation too

@ClaraDiazSanchez there are enough references to time, moving hands, 12, seconds, instants, etc. in the poem that I find it hard to understand how those can be tied together except with a clock metaphor. Thanks for concurring!

@DLosc That's just your alibi for your previous message:

(one day when I grow up I will be able to format chat messages correctly, without having to edit each time)