If you forget me.

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 exist,
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 store 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.

Poem by Pablo Neruda
Music : Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings.