If You Forget Me

“If You Forget Me” focuses on explaining how Love Is Reciprocity (Mutual Exchange). The speaker, usually considered to be Neruda himself, explores a series of if-then statements, or conditional statements. The “beloved” (Line 46), usually considered Neruda’s wife, is the person—or “you” (Line 1)—who the speaker addresses in the poem. The speaker reacts to the beloved’s choices, both positive and negative. The tone of the poem is set in the first stanza. It is a declaration of a lover to his beloved. He wants her “to know / one thing” (Lines 1-2). The thing, or concept that he goes on to explain is Love Is Reciprocity, or how love is a mutual exchange. Neruda’s language is conversational and direct in this stanza.

In the second stanza, the language becomes more symbolic and figurative. Here, the speaker presents symbols that are familiar to readers of love poetry: “the crystal moon” (Line 5) and a “red branch” (Line 5)—a tree branch with leaves that have turned red in “autumn” (Line 6). Neruda uses the moon and the branch symbolically as things that draw the speaker to the beloved. His visual experience of these natural objects, as well as the history of their use in love poetry, draw him toward the beloved. He says, “everything carries me to you” (Line 12). The list of things expands to include the tactile experience of fire. Fire is also a symbol that frequently appears in love poetry. These poetic symbols—and sensory experiences—represent the speaker’s attraction to his beloved. The list of things that draw the speaker to his beloved moves from these particular sensory experiences to the whole world. The speaker includes “everything that exists, / aromas, light, metals” (Lines 12-13) in the list.

The second stanza then uses a simile, or direct comparison, for everything he experiences: “boats” (Line 14). His sensory experiences—what he sees, touches, and smells—are all ways to travel across the water to the beloved. The beloved’s heart, or feelings of love, are described using another comparison. This is a metaphor that compares the beloved’s heart to “those isles of yours that wait for me” (Line 16). The Heart’s Home—where the lover is welcomed into the heart of the beloved—is an island or islands. Love is when all things take the lover to the Heart’s Home or, in other words, when all things are connected to the beloved. The beloved desiring the speaker—metaphorically welcoming him to the isles—needs to be present in order for him to love her.

In the third stanza, the speaker presents a negative action and reaction, which develops the theme of Love Is Reciprocity (Mutual Exchange). The stanza begins conversationally with “Well, now” (Line 17), which makes the if-then (conditional) statement that follows seem less like a formal logical argument and more like a proposition. This line also includes time—the present moment—which is developed over the course of the poem as an important part of the nature of love. If the beloved’s affection gradually wanes, then the speaker’s love does as well. This happens simultaneously. Additionally, the speaker reflects on how love is withdrawn: gradually. The phrase “little by little” is repeated in Lines 18 and 19, indicating the gradual nature of withdrawal in this action and reaction. Love’s retraction is balanced.

The fourth stanza also contains a negative action and reaction that develops the theme of Love Is Reciprocity. In contrast to the previous conditional statement, this action and reaction occur suddenly, rather than gradually. The speaker explains:

[if] suddenly

you forget me

do not look for me

for I shall already have forgotten you (Lines 20-23).

The juxtaposition of the previous conditional statement with this conditional statement equates love with not forgetting. In other words, “stop loving” (Line 18) is replaced with “forget” in the if-then statement in this stanza. However, in both cases, the speaker is mirroring the beloved—they both change gradually or suddenly. This similarity develops how loss of love is reciprocated, as well as develops the Temporal (Time-Related) Nature of Love theme.

In the fifth stanza, the speaker develops the theme of The Heart’s Home. The island metaphor continues:

and you decide

to leave me at the shore

of the heart where I have roots (Lines 27-29).

The heart, as an island, has shores. Not loving, or forgetting, is not allowing the speaker to move into the heart or, metaphorically, onto the island. The idea of home is developed with the diction (word choice) of “roots” (Line 29). As one puts down roots in the geographical location of their home, the speaker puts down roots in the beloved’s heart. The imagery of “wind of banners” (Line 25) develops the idea of The Heart’s Home by evoking the windiness of living in a large body of water on an island.

Also in the fifth stanza, the speaker develops the Temporal (Time-Related) Nature of Love theme. He says, “on that day, / at that hour” (Lines 31-32), he will find a new home for his heart. At the exact time that the beloved keeps the speaker out of her heart’s home, he seeks “another land” (Line 35). The idea of time continues in the final stanza as well. The temporal (time-related) words are repeated in both the fifth and sixth stanzas: “if each day, / each hour” (Lines 37-38). The speaker and the beloved are linked by feeling the same thing at the same time. Love is both reciprocal and temporal.

The final stanza develops a positive action and reaction, which is part of the Love Is Reciprocity theme. When love is consistently reciprocated, the imagery includes a flower and a burning fire. The flower in this stanza can be compared with the tree branch in the second stanza: “if each day a flower / climbs up your lips to seek me” (Lines 41-42). Both plants are affected by the seasons, developing the theme of love’s temporal nature. A blooming flower is associated with spring and flourishing love, and the autumnal branch carries the speaker to the lover in the second stanza. Furthermore, the second stanza includes fire symbolism, as does the sixth stanza. In the sixth stanza, fire multiplies, or “is repeated” (Line 44). This connection between the second and sixth stanzas, both of which can be read as positive actions and reactions, develops the theme of Love Is Reciprocity (Mutual Exchange).

The poem ends by developing the theme of the Temporal (Time-Related) Nature of Love. When love is reciprocated, it can last an entire lifetime. The speaker says:

my love feeds on your love, beloved,

and as long as you live it will be in your arms

without leaving mine (Lines 46-48).

Love can last as long as the beloved is alive, if it is reciprocated. Reciprocation of love causes it to increase in the imagery of love as food for love. Furthermore, love is physically held in the arms of the beloved. This develops the theme of The Heart’s Home, which is—in the final lines—physical, as well as metaphorically an island.