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This suite is Neruda's last love song to the Earth. As the title suggests, the "man of decay" (Neruda is dying of cancer) addresses not ordinary stones, but cosmic ones: stones that reconcile immobile permanence and the clarity of spiritual flight. When the poet meets his crystallized self, the encounter "takes on an eerie brilliance" -The Village Voice. Bilingual with introduction.Author Biography: Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) held diplomatic posts in various East Asian and European countries. After joining the Communist Party, Neruda was elected to the Chilean Senate, and soon after had to flee to Mexico and lived as an exile for several years. He later established a permanent home on Isla Negra. In 1970 he was appointed as Chile's ambassador to France, and in 1971 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.