If You Forget Me - Poem by Pablo Neruda

I want you to know one thing.

You know how this is:

if I look

at the crystal moon, at 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 log,

everything carries me to you,

as if everything that exists,

aromas, light, metals,

were little boats

that sail

toward those isles of yours

that wait for me.

Well, now, if little by little

you stop loving me

I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly you forget me

do not look for me,

for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,

the wind of banners

that passes through my life,

and you decide

to leave me at the shore

of the heart where I have roots,

remember

that on that day,

at that hour,

I shall lift my arms

and my roots will set off

to seek another land.

But if each day,

each hour,

you feel that you are destined for me

with implacable sweetness,

if each day a flower

climbs up to your lips to seek me,

ah my love, ah my own,

in me all that fire is repeated,

in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,

my love feeds on your love, beloved,

and as long as you live it will be in your arms

without leaving mine.

Link to poem:

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/if-you-forget-me/

Link to picture:

https://marcosangiovanni.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/if_you_forget_me.jpg

Pablo Neruda’ s real name is Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. Neruda was born on the 12th of July 1904. Neruda was born in Parral, Chile. His father was a railroad employee and his mother died shortly after Neruda was born. Neruda spent his childhood and youth in Temuco. In Temuco he got to meet Gabriela Mistral who was the head of the girls secondary school, she took a liking to him.

Link to biographical information:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1971/neruda-bio.html

The speaker of the poem is a person who is deeply in love but doesn’t want the lover to have like an upper hand kind of, or think that the speaker would lose something if the lover left. The speaker is talking to the person that they love. Every single object in this world carries the speaker to it’s lover, the smells, the metals, the light reminds the speaker to their said lover; the speaker wants the lover to know that the speaker won’t dwell on it if the said lover slowly falls out of love with the speaker or if the lover decides to suddenly leave the speaker. The speaker also wants the lover to know that their love fuels them, feeds them. The speakers fire of love won’t ever burn out if the lover decides to stay and care for the speaker and the love.

“Aromas, light, metals, were little boats that sail toward those isles of yours.” This quote is a metaphor because the speaker is saying aromas, lights, and metals are boats sailing to all the little parts of the speaker. This quote has an impact on the story because the speaker is saying that little objects or little things we don’t always think about has a direct connection to their lover.

“To leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots” This quote is an example of how strong the lover has made her, with their love. How much that would hurt to if the lover left but she would stay strong at her roots, she wouldn't, go down.

"My love feeds on your love." This quote is an example of imagery. The imagery is taste because the speakers love for the lover is so strong she can almost taste it, and that's amazing.

The tone in this poem joyful, loving, and hopeful. It is joyful and loving because the speaker talks about all the good things about the lover. All the joyful things the speaker that makes it happy. It is hopeful because hopefully the lover won’t leave the speaker.

The theme is saying that the speaker loves someone but can always drop that person. The speaker talks many times about leaving the lover. If for some reason the lover decides not to love the speaker anymore, or suddenly falls out of love with the speaker. The speaker has roots to go back to, to pick up from. Yes, the speaker knows that they will be lonely but the speaker will have somewhere to go, the speaker won't always be lonely.

The stanzas are broken up in different groups. How much the speaker loves the lover. How much the speaker doesn’t want the lover to leave the speaker. How much the speaker will care if the lover leaves them. The speaker is a strong individual. The way the poet breaks up the stanzas are inspiring and clever. The poet splits the poem up so everything is like highlighted in some way.