Fay met you
on your way home
from school
standing by the entrance

of Meadow Row
she was in her school uniform
a satchel
over a shoulder

how was school?
she asked
boring and the day
too long

you replied
but at least
you can learn things
she said

like how
to make a candle
holder in woodwork?
finding some river

in India
I’ll never see?
you said
she smiled shyly

well maybe you will
she said
how are you?
you asked

ok
she replied
got told off
by Sister Bernard

for not having a ruler
what did you do
with your ruler?
you asked

lost it
she said
ah well
there you are

you said
naughty naughty
she walked on
down Meadow Row

and you walked
beside her
actually
she said quietly

my daddy took it
she stood still
and stared at you
he beat me

with it
she said
in a whisper
you looked

into her eyes
and saw your
reflection there
two yous

staring back
why?
you asked
taking in her paleness

her fair hair tied
in a ponytail
he said l hadn’t done
my jobs properly

jobs?
you asked
around the house
helping my mum

and did you? help?
yes usually
but I forgot
this time

big crime
you said
won’t he give
the ruler back?

no
she said
he said he will keep it
as a lesson to me

can’t you buy
a new one?
you asked
I haven’t any money

she said
you can have
one of mine
you said

I have plenty at home
can I borrow one?
you can have one
she smiled weakly

her eyes lit up
and she took one
of your hands
and held it

I’ll have to hide it though
she said
or he’ll take
that one too

quite a guy your dad
you said
she looked away
at the bombed out houses

on the left hand side
you saw her hurt
and sadness
some things you can’t hide.

I glimpse it now and then.  
Most times only in passing.

There are days.  
Bright sunny days,
when the warmth of the summer sun
permeates through my whole body.
It feels like the light on those days
brightens my entire existence.
I feel it then.

Rainy days
when the gloom from the cloudy sky
matches the sweet melancholy of my soul.
The peaceful sound of raindrops
the warm rumble of thunder
brilliant flashes of lightning.  
I feel it then.

I’ve felt in passing memories.
Memories of the joy of childhood.
Memories of my family and friends.  
Memories of the dreams I think I am loosing as I get older.

Sometimes I can smell it.
It’s the scent of my favorite food cooking
The smell of the perfume she wore when we first met.  
Or that electric smell that fills the air right after a spring storm.

It’s in the sound of a mothers voice.
The touch of the warm breeze on a starry night.
The sound of the ocean when I really need to relax.

I feel it when I notice natures beauty.
I see it pass between two lovers holding hands

It’s in a warm embrace,
a passionate kiss.
or just a knowing look
from someone who for an instant
sees the world exactly as I do.

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

Don't go far off, not even for a day
Don't go far off, not even for a day,
Because I don't know how to say it - a day is long
And I will be waiting for you, as in
An empty station when the trains are
Parked off somewhere else, asleep.

Don't leave me, even for an hour, because then
The little drops of anguish will all run together,
The smoke that roams looking for a home will drift
Into me, choking my lost heart.

Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve
On the beach, may your eyelids never flutter
Into the empty distance. Don't LEAVE me for
A second, my dearest, because in that moment you'll
Have gone so far I'll wander mazily
Over all the earth, asking, will you
Come back? Will you leave me here, dying?

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

He was awakened from those lovely fantasies,
But it only held him half alive that night;
A dream of sailing across the seven seas,
Only drowned him in disappointments, he cried.

He tried to separate the moon from the stars,
But he failed only to tell him about this strife.
Mind was vexed by a dream that turned into scars,
Reality wounded him, so he will be asleep again tonight.