(12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973 / Parral / Chile)

poet Pablo Neruda
#4 on top 500 poets
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What do you think this poem is about?

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,
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.

Submitted: Friday, January 03, 2003


Read poems about / on: autumn, fire, flower, remember, moon, red, wind, light, love

Comments about this poem (If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda )

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  • Divya Gupta (6/6/2013 2:41:00 AM)

    Lovly poem..
    If we love someone, definitly we need some too in return..
    Logicaly true..
    Plz..Do read my poems: -)

    2 person liked.
    		4 person did not like.
  • Holly Gorham (5/21/2013 11:59:00 AM)

    beautifully written,

    7 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • David Jaros (5/12/2013 12:05:00 PM)

    I love this poem. It might seem like a bitter, prideful love, but love needs love to endure.

    13 person liked.
    		8 person did not like.
  • Salma Laskar (5/10/2013 1:18:00 AM)

    When two people are in love, the flowing emotions is just the reflection for each other. :)

    8 person liked.
    		7 person did not like.
  • Danny Gallegos (4/22/2013 11:48:00 AM)

    Neruda has a unique way to put words together. Throughout the poem one can see that love is more than a four letter word. It is the abiity to let go of the loved one and give it its freedom. I personally enjoy the transition between stanzas. To see he is willing to forget if forgotten, and to see he is willing to love if loved couldn't have ben better displayed then the manner on which Neruda did so within the poem.

    29 person liked.
    		8 person did not like.
  • Jackie Osae (4/10/2013 3:09:00 PM)

    It simply means that loving me back is the food my love needs to grow...to survive and if I don't get that love in return, mine will eventually die.

    26 person liked.
    		10 person did not like.
  • Ruben Rivera (4/8/2013 6:09:00 PM)

    Continued from my last comment: In fact, that Neruda says things like, [everything carries me to you], and [My love feeds on your love], tells me that he is admitting his dependence on her. Thus if she stops loving him and forgets him, his love will likewise diminish.

    15 person liked.
    		10 person did not like.
  • Ruben Rivera (4/8/2013 3:50:00 PM)

    I cannot be sure without talking to Neruda, and of course that is now impossible since he is dead now these 40 years. But as I reread this poem it occurs to me that it is not so much selfish: hey, stop loving me, and I'll just stop loving you. Easy as pie. No, this love he talks about is too expansive (everything carries me to you / as if everything that exists...) to drop so easily as if costing nothing. Instead, I think this is a poem about how love cannot exist of itself. Love needs love (My love feeds on your love, he says) . If one stops loving you, it is not a law that you will stop loving them back, but they should not be surprised if they too are forgotten and replaced with another love. This poem tells me that it is very possible to lose the love of my love when I stop loving. This poem tells me to be careful.

    30 person liked.
    		12 person did not like.
  • Keith Crawford (4/5/2013 10:19:00 PM)

    Unrequited love is love never the less. Leaving another free to make her own choice has no bearing on the love he has for her.

    9 person liked.
    		11 person did not like.
  • N J (4/4/2013 9:09:00 AM)

    all i see in this poem is a cynic who loves only for the sake of getting loved in return.
    if his lovers love for him diminishes he mercilessly abandons her.
    what an horribly self-centered person he is.
    he shouldn't be given the right to love anyone.
    he is a disgrace for all the pure hearted lovers in this world.

    13 person liked.
    		45 person did not like.
Read all 279 comments »

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