OH, FAR OFF

Illumined were my most ancient sorrows
Increasing, amid all rules, my primordial longing
What was lived in my stream of love, who knows
Which ships were they, over dark seas passing

She filled her basket with lilac blossoms
His joy exceeded all familiar bounds
A fair-haired man, woman with pink teeth
Birds alone know how their secret kisses sound

Was it in the sudden silence, like the rivers
In the dark of night meaningful and weighty
To die by thousands, from a thousand places, years
For a thousand years, to grow toward you and eternity

Who was it in the caverns’ warm gloaming
The tiny friendly kisses, so like my mother’s
Telling of love, gently hinting at something other
Gently into the forest of feeling roaming

May it never end, please, let it endure in silence
Which knows how to weep, nostalgic and masculine
Which falls like snow quietly into my eyes
Now just to worship you, oh far off violin