The most famous of Latin American poets, Neruda was more than the master of writing love poems, but a patriot against dictators, who was not afraid to speak risking his life. Indeed he was poisoned shortly after Pinochet's coup d'état, and despite official government orders to prohibit public observance of his death, thousands of Chileans filled the streets of Santiago defying the government's strict curfew laws.

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.