What is "The Saddest Poem" by Pablo Neruda about?

"The Saddest Poem" by Pablo Neruda is about lost love. The
speaker laments over the loss of a lover, not who has died, but who has moved on from
him. His strong connection of the poem to the stars and sky suggests the insurmountable
distance between him and his former love:

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I can write the saddest poem of all
tonight.

Write, for instance: "The night is full of
stars,
and the stars, blue, shiver in the
distance."

Because he is no
longer with his love, he is able to write the "saddest poem of
all."

At the end of the poem, the speaker offers some hope
for himself. While the body of the poem is very sad and depressing, he is purging
himself of her and has decided that this is the last time that he will think of her.
This is the last night that he will lament,

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Because on nights like this I held her in my
arms,
my soul is lost without her.

Although this may be the
last pain she causes me,
and this may be the last poem I write for
her.

In the morning, we get
the sense that he will move on and begin his life anew. His "saddest poem" is the final
purge of a wonderful and difficult time in his life.