You said: “Watch over me while you’re away.”
I hid you in my heart in still delight,
As some quiet shadow, folding up the day,
Denies her to the brilliance of the night.
You know, my love, the tiredness in my face
To sudden loveliness is always lit
Each time you look at me. You give to space
A further spaciousness, a holy writ.
While I’m away, my love, my old beguiling
Will slowly rust in chosen abstinence,
The smile you love will harden into smiling,
Some brittle trick of feminine defence.
The voice you love will lose its golden shadows
And ripple brightly at an even pace,
A tinkling rivulet of sunny shallows
A-glitter with an emptiness of grace.
The beauty that you gave my face will vanish
Masked by some easy prettiness that may,
Contenting others, give me time to banish
The smallest trace of what you took away.
It is not difficult to hide the soul,
Man does not search for such a foolish thing
A secret substance, the incarnate symbol
Of a mysterious awakening.
While I’m away, my love, the world will see
A woman you would never recognize.
When I come back vainly they’ll look for me,
Unless they find the road to Paradise?