And if you forget me!

A mail chain steeped in meaning.... A friend sent Neruda( that's the mail) and the reply follows.

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.

-
Pablo Neruda

And hence followed my reply

And if you forget me…

If tomorrow brings with you

Trials unknown

And with a heavy heart you move on

And battle

The worst fears, the worst tragedies

I will stand by each day

Wait at each corner,

At each bend

To hold your hand

Exhilaration and beauty

Happiness and abundance

Kiss each step of your way

I shall stand and watch

And pray

It lasts forever

And if you forget me,

If each day in your life begins with a laugh

A thought, a smile

And none of which have a drop of me

I shall smile, and think and drown in sweet memories

When they were but for me

If suddenly you detest,

My existence

My coming in your life

Of my unholy self

Decaying an insignificant corner of your heart

I will try to cleanse it

To erase those memories

And with a million tears

Erase all those years..

Yet my love,

Never,

Come what may

Will I forget you

Writ upon my soul

Is a summer

And a life I never knew

And I me always wanted to be

A me so very true

Lose I shall that me perhaps

Along some rough road

But never lose the very you

Or the paths we trod

And every now and then when I

Visit my real self

I shall live again my love

I shall be myself