Neruda’s line begins by reframing longing—not as a private ache to endure, but as a resource to be transformed. Instead of letting desire circle endlessly in the mind, he urges us to give it direction, weight, and consequence. In that shift, emotion stops being merely felt and starts becoming made.
From there, the quote proposes an ethic of transmutation: what you cannot hold, you can still build toward. Longing becomes the energy source for action, and the inner life gains a visible form that can be shared, tested, and remembered. [...]
