To Rose Who Is Far Away From Me
I think of you being a universe away—
it cuts like broken glass, being apart from you
and all alone and without a bright ray
that's you to keep me from growing so blue.
If I could fly like a bird and appear
at your front door like a long-lost, old letter
I'd move both heaven and Earth to be near
you,—nothing under heaven could be better!
Tho' I am poor my words are filled with riches
and emeralds for a beautiful, high princess
like you—a sweet, highborn girl who bewitches
all with her charming brilliance and great rictus.
To please you I would scale tall mountains
and plumb the depths of under-sea valleys;
and like de León I'd search the lost fountains
of youth for you 'til I grow feeble in both knees.
Together, we are the Shepherd and Lamb;
I'd lead you to graze in the tall, green grasses
where the fields are watered by the brick dam
ahead of the dry and dusty, dirt passes.
I am the river and you are the sea;
my love flows into you like the Ganges;
like seed, I'd flower in your open lea
and sprout in your heart’s crannies.
I am the soil and you are the Rose,
rouge-tinted with life and fertile beauty;
you'd reek of great wisdom to every nose
and be sage beyond the ripe age of ninety.
Like a bottomless sea my love runs deep
for you and will never run dry or run cold:
thus, with these words of mine you can keep
them near you and treasure them like gold.
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