Unmoving restless agony of thought,
Mechanical, incarcerated by hungry fears,
Imprisoned by desire, by 'is' and 'ought',
I wander in a labyrinth of old ideas,
And when a breath of perfume comes my way,
Or love unnoticed for wakens in my eye,
I crush it with the urge to seize the day
And poison heaven with a greedy lie.
One time there is to live and that is now,
Though yesterday is all that I can hold,
And looking to tomorrow with my 'How?'
The love I know is always dead and cold.
Yet love endures and I must surely end -
Myself the foe, and death the loyal friend.