A child who does not play is not a child, but the man who doesn't play has lost forever the child who lived in him and who he will miss terribly.

Pinochet had denied permission to transform Neruda's funeral into a public event. Three days after being hospitalised Neruda died of heart failure; however there are doubts as to whether or not the junta had a hand in his death. Neruda became known as a poet while still a teenager.