Pablo and Madonna

Here’s a treat for everyone on this “Hallmark Greeting Card” day. Wishin everyone a hearty day and if you don’t feel particularly hearty or happy, well think of it this way:

1. In less than 6 hours, this day will be over and life will be back to normal programming.
2. You didn’t really want to be stuck in traffic anyway
3. You’ve got better things to do than eat lobster in an over crowded restaurant
4. Come on, you didn’t really think it was cool to be going out and doing the mainstream thing did you?

So for my friends, here’s some Neruda poetry read by Madonna. The message is not exactly how my sentiments go right now (and I kid you not) but today I prefer to celebrate love and poetry (because I’m an arteeeest! Hahaha!)

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

(If you want to download the MP3 you can DL the attachment below, too)