The Twentieth Poem of Love

Write, for example The night is starred And the lights sparkle, blue, in the distance.

The wind of the night whirls in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the most sad rhyme.

I wanted her, and at times it was me she wanted. On nights like this I had her within my arms.

I kissed her so many times under the infinite sky. . .

She wanted me, and at. times it was her I wanted. HoW not to have loved her large fixed eyes.

Tonight I can write the most sad rhyme.

To think I don't have her. To feel that I've lost her.

Hear theIarge night, more large without her.

And the verse falls on the soul like the dew falls.

What does it matter my love could not ,hold her. The night is starred and she is not with me.

That is all. Far away someone sings. In the dis- tance.

My soul is not contented with losing her.

As if to approach her my gaze searches for her. My heart searches for her, and she is not with me.

• The same night that whitens the same trees. We are nolongei the same as we were, then.

I do not want her, it is true, but how much I wanted her: My voice sought the wind in order to touch her.

Of another. She will be of another. As before of my kisses. Her voice, her clear body. Her infinite eyes.

I do not want her, it is true, but perhaps I want her.

Love is so short and ObliVion "so long. • Because on similar.nights I had her within my arms, My soul is not contented with losing her.

Although this is the last pain she may cause me, And these may be the last verses I write her.

JULIAN COOPER