The sky’s too full for mortal to discover
A little star that privately will shine.
If you are love, then I will be no lover
Taking from you the glory that was mine.
You took my secret but you did not know it.
--Secrets will die in alien custody--
If you are poetry I am no poet,
For I disdain your stolen melody.
A thief of suns and moons and stars, that dangles
Misleading glitter before empty minds.
Your greedy soul will grasp the golden spangles,
Lovers and poets scatter to the winds.
Yet you are poetry and love and passion,
And that fulfilment which is called despair,
The grinding force that still must fake and fashion
Each falling fancy, floating on the air.
For you are love and I, alas! I know it.
And you the poetry I could not smother.
And that, my love, is why I am no poet,
And that, my love, is why I am no lover.