Selective Amnesia

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.

- Pablo Neruda

It is the first day of September and I am not sure if I am really glad it has finally arrived.  I want to go into a deep slumber but the circumstances surrounding me require me to be more alert.  I want to forget some things that I wish didn't happen but since I can't get rid of what has already transpired in the past, I might as well deal with them NOW in the PRESENT so they wouldn't bother me anymore in the future.

I was only looking for a certain file in my folders when I came across a copy of this poem.  This is one of my favorites from Neruda and it seems like it's the Cosmic's reply to what's going on in my head.  My dearest friend Memory is speaking to me through these lines.  Maybe she doesn't want to be put in the recycle bin of my otherwise junk-infested brain.  Yes Memory, I will never forget you and all your little friends whom you always carry with you in your bosom.