If You Forget Me By Pablo Neruda

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.

I was rather hesitant in posting this poem as one of my favorites. It certainly is a fantastic piece of work, but the poem conveys a message of conditional love. What happened to forgiveness? What happened to sacrifice? Where is this love of God that we are supposed to give endlessly? Would a day of no love push the man further away from the woman? Would a second change his heart in an instant? I know I am hopelessly misconstruing the meaning of the poem. I guess I'll leave this as my personal interpretation and commentary on thoughts that occurred while reading the poem.