The Captain's Verses

I went to Borders in search of the greatest works of Lorca and their one copy had been bought.  Here's the deal: when you are in the mood for bilingual poetry books by Hispanic poets, you are in the mood. There is no denying it, no ordering offline or coming back later. No. Quiero poemas. Ahora. Then mis ojos saw this...

I am one of those people that judges books by their covers and this is a beautiful one. Doesn't it just beg to be picked up? Why the lines? Why the font and the color blue? Why such a modern cover for the words of a poet from the earlier half of the twentieth century? And then, unable to not be the owner of such a work of art, I bought it. Now I am the owner of the art on the outside and the art on the inside. Success!

IF YOU FORGET ME

PABLO NERUDA

I want you to know one thing:
You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal, 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 carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, lights, metals,
were little boats that sail
towards 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.