80.

My heart is even lonelier than my face

When you, away, and the children flee

The street for summer, and the space of night

Takes all day, leaves nowhere full, shakes the heart

Like a tree, and I, windfall inside and out,

Soundless like a task, fold in similitude

And cannot compare myself or anyone,

You, for instance, to a summer’s day.

More lovely you, and quiet falls in my mind

Inarticulate as the flashing water

Flat to the horizon. The nameless dead

Of time reach for history, their love

Denied. These words are shadows, signatures,

Fools to oblivion: my love must be silent.