Poem Response 10

Jenny Floravita "Sailing in the Hawaiian Islands"

"If You Forget Me"

 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 

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 Wow. The speaker sounds harsh at first. For example, stanza four says "If suddenly
you forget me do not look for me, for I shall already have forgotten you." This seems as if the speaker is either very adaptable or a jerk who can pick up and start a new love affair with anyone. However, after reading the poem a few times it became apparent, at least to me, that the speaker is in love with the fact that the person they are talking about loves them so much. Therefore, there would be no point in the speaker trying to hold on to an unrequited love.

The poems tone moves from loving and sweet to foreboding then back to sweet again. I'd say the whole thing is a sugar coated warning of love once lost never regained. The long stanza structure broken up by the warning in the middle is very effective at moving the reader from one set of imagery to the next. That being said, the imagery used is well thought out. Islands, boats, and the fire of love all speak to the feeling of being at home, intimate, private, or comfortable. The opposing images of roots being ripped up or being left at the shore do the opposite, rather giving the sense of loss.