Not Swift to Forget – part 2

By Alex Sawit

November 30, 2013

 

 

[ This is the second of a two-part series. To read the start, go to Part One. ]

 

 

 

In the liner notes of Taylor Swift’s Red, the singer-songwriter confesses that her inspiration for the album was Pablo Neruda’s classic Poem No. 20, making it known that she is a fan of the romantic Chilean poet.

To my mind, this begs the question: can Swift be persuaded to make a future album by taking inspiration from another famous Neruda poem on the subject of forgetting?

Unlike the idea of forgetting in Poem No. 20, the thought isn’t lost in translation in Neruda’s poem If You Forget Me (original title in Spanish: Si Tú Me Olvidas). “Olvidas” in this poem is straightforward, referring to how you “forget” someone when you’ve lost interest.

I think Neruda fans at Cyrano would welcome another album inspired by another of his poems. But right now, folks around here are more interested in talking about Taylor Swift for looking stunningly beautiful while singing on the runway at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (they want to watch at the shop as soon as I’ve downloaded it), as well as for the controversy caused by the media, which sensationally misinterpreted a comment that VS model Jessica Hart innocently made about Swift at the show’s after-party.

 

Taylor Swift was easily as stunning on the runway as her VS friends.

 

It’s something to remember in the future just in case. So let’s wait and see. You can have faith in me that I am not one to forget.

And of course, here’s my translation of Neruda’s poem.

 

 

 

 

If You Forget Me

by Pablo Neruda

 

 

I want you to know
one thing.
 

You know how this is:
if I view
the crystal moon, by the red branch
of the lingering autumn in my window,
if I touch
beside the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the firewood,
everything carries me away to you,
as if all that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
turns into little ships that navigate
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.
 

Well now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I will stop loving you little by little.
 

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I will have already forgotten you.
 

If you consider 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,
know
that on that day,
at that hour
I will pick up these arms
and my roots will pull out
to seek another land.
 

But
if each day,
each hour
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness.
If each day there climbs
a flower to your lips to seek me,
oh my love, oh my one,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love is fed by your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.
 

 

 

Translated by Alex Sawit
November 18, 2013
Re-edited December 3, 2013
Re-edited January 26, 2018