Since we last met
I have thought much, done less – my usual curse.
I have practised words which have not yet been said;
I have listened to the music in my mind
That I have not had courage to re-play
Since we last met.

Since we last met
I have wondered what has changed beneath the moon,
And whether seas that once we watched together
Are shining still beneath the moving clouds
Or whether wind and sun have dried them all
Since we last met.

Since we last met
I, trapped within the hour-glass of Time,
Have walked on the shifting sands and left no mark,
And walking still, still wonder whether time
Has blurred the perfect beauty of your eyes
Or wiped away the smile, or wiped the tears
Since we last met.

Elliptical encircling of your sphere
Like moth to fire drawn by answering fire,
From far beyond your sense I travelled here
To touch your being with my own desire.
Through the slow cadences of barren dust
I trailed my song of ice, and sought to reach
From distance to the heat of lovers’ trust
Uncurled where melody moves each to each.
Now turned at perihelion I retreat
And as I leave I echo your refrain,
Knowing that none on Earth will live to greet
That unseen moment when I rise again –
You have no time to measure all my days
As I curve back, to burn sequestered ways.

With all my hopes repluvian
I cannot stand the drought;
You are the very lushness
I cannot do without.

My dreams are all of mangolds,
My days are full of loam;
Without your gourds and gaubles rare
I am bereft of chrome.

Stand with me on the summit
And hold my melting hand –
All maps are frailly false to me
And stringently unplanned.

For we have dragged the deepest moat
And danced behind the moon,
So let us leave these grimwald shores
And let us leave them soon.

Let us dive through scapulas
Both green and blue and white,
Remerging on a distant shore
And sinking into sight.