983. Exile, by Hart Crane

(after the Chinese)

My hands have not touched pleasure since your hands,-
No,-nor my lips freed laughter since 'farewell',
And with the day, distance again expands
Voiceless between us, as an uncoiled shell.

Yet love endures, though starving and alone.
A dove's wings cling about my heart each night
With surging gentleness, and the blue stone
Set in the tryst-ring has but worn more bright.

Source: The Complete Poems of Hart Crane

No comments:

Post a Comment