“If You Forget Me” by Pablo Neruda is a poem that explores the themes of love, loss and reciprocity with extraordinary emotional depth. With his characteristic sensitivity, Neruda captures the fragile beauty of love, highlighting the delicacy of the bond between two people.
The poem opens with an intimate and direct introduction: “I want you to know one thing.” This sentence immediately engages the reader, creating a sense of urgency and importance. Neruda uses vivid and sensory imagery to describe how everything around him leads him to thoughts of his beloved. Natural elements such as the moon, the red autumn branch, and the wood near the fire become symbols of her deep and inescapable connection with her.
The second part of the poem introduces the conditionality of Neruda’s love. With calm and resolute words, the poet declares that if his beloved were to stop loving him, he would do the same: “Well, if little by little you stop loving me I will stop loving you little by little.” This passage emphasizes the dynamic and changing nature of love, suggesting that the feeling must be kept alive by both parties in order to continue to exist.
Neruda continues with a powerful image of transformation and adaptation: “I will raise my arms high and my roots will go out to seek other land.” This passage shows the ability to be reborn and find new horizons even after a separation, a message of hope and resilience.
However, the poem culminates with a promise of eternal and unconditional love if the beloved feels that her destiny is with him: “if every day, every hour you feel that you are destined for me with implacable sweetness.” Neruda describes how his love feeds on that of his beloved, creating an indissoluble and mutual bond. The repetition of the fire and its inextinguishability symbolize the passion and dedication that characterize their relationship.
“If you forget me” is a poem that explores the complexity of love with extraordinary emotional depth. Neruda offers us a sincere and touching reflection on the conditional nature of love, the importance of reciprocity and the ability to find new life even after loss. This composition is an ode to the strength of the human heart and the beauty of shared love.
If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda
I want him to know
one thing.
You know what this looks like:
if I look
the crystal moon, the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the wood,
everything leads me to you,
as if what exists,
aromas, light, metals,
they were small ships that go
towards your islands that await me.
Well,
if little by little you stop loving me
I will stop loving you little by little.
If suddenly
you forget me,
don’t look for me,
because I will already have forgotten you.
If you consider long and crazy
the wind of flags
that passes through my life
and you decide
to leave me on the shore
of the heart in which I sink my roots,
thinks
that on that day,
in that hour,
I will raise my arms high
and my roots will come out
to look for other land.
But
if every day,
hourly
feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness.
If every day it goes up
to your lips a flower looking for me,
ah, my love, ah my,
in me all that fire repeats itself,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live he will be in your arms
without leaving mine.
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