The Wanderer and His Shadow

if you forget me

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
Ahh my love
Ahh 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

--Pablo Neruda

posted by Pat @ 9:25 PM