I want you to know

one thing. 

You know how this is: 

If You Forget Me
By Pablo Neruda
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 carrie s 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.
This is a poem, written by Pablo Neruda, presumably
the speaker of the work, to his lover, warning her of
what will happen if she forgets him while he is
away. 

In the beginning of the poem, Neruda

presents a loving and romantic picture for his
lover, reminding her of how much he loves
her. However, towards the middle of the
poem, his tone changes, warning her that if
she stops loving him, he will also cease to
love her.
The tone in the last stanza of the poem reverts back to
the positive, romantic tone in the first section of the
poem, and the speaker tells his lover that if she does
not forget him, if she keeps on loving him, he will
forever love her in return. The poem highlights how
intense, yet fickle, a love between a man and woman
can be.

If You Forget Me is a poem

comprised of six stanzas of
varying length. The poem is
written in free verse, as the
lines are unrhymed.
Something interesting to note is the fact that
the first stanza, which is only one line,
reading, “I want you to know one thing,”
seems to be a continuation of the title.

Therefore, it can be read as a single thought:

“If you forget me, I want you to know one
thing.”

The tone swiftly changes in the second stanza,

where Neruda explains the depth of his love directly
to his mistress, writing in the first line, “You know
how this is.” Neruda’s diction is quite beautiful in
this stanza, referring to the “crystal moon” and “red
branch” in line 5. He conjures up his senses of sight
and touch, telling his lover that whatever he sees or
touches will inevitably carry him back to her.
 While the first half of the poem is incredibly romantic and
flattering, the third and fourth stanzas paint a very
different picture, and they serve as a warning to Neruda’s
mistress. 

The third stanza stands on its own, cautioning

Neruda’s lover that if she stops loving him, he
will do the same in return. It also begins the
first in a string of ultimatums Neruda offers to
his lover.

The fourth stanza continues

that thought, as the speaker
tells his lover that if he is
forgotten, she will be
forgotten, too. 
It is interesting to note Neruda’s diction in that last
line—“I shall already have forgotten you.” He tells
his lover that if she suddenly forgets him, he wants
her to know that he was the one who forgot first—it
has already been done. It seems important to him
that she knows it is she who was forgotten first.

He continues his warning into the fifth stanza,

again telling his lover that should she “decide to
leave me at the shore,” he will “on that day, at
that hour…seek another land.” In this stanza,
Neruda uses an extended metaphor of a shore
and its land to warn his lover of the
consequences of her actions. 
In the sixth and final stanza, however, Neruda changes his tone
once again, this time returning to the romantic and passionate
tone of the first stanza. 
The first line of the last stanza is comprised of
a single word: “But.” 

This gives the reader the impression that all that

has been occurring in the previous stanzas has
been setting the stage for this final one. It is as if
the speaker is telling his lover, “If you do any of
these things, I will do them back to you, but if
you do not, this will happen instead,” for the
remaining lines of the final stanza reveal what
will happen if the lover does not forget him. If,
instead, she feels “…that you are destined for
me,” the feeling will be returned.
In the last stanza, Neruda
compares his love for his
mistress to a fire: it feeds off
of the love his mistress has
for him, and therefore, it can
only be extinguished if her
love dies. The speaker closes
by vowing that as long as his
mistress lives, the love they
share for each other will be
cradled between them, in
their arms.