Standing in a clearing
in among the birches
smiling like a somewhat
inconsolable muse
I had brought a question:
Would you come to Paris?
Leaving now with us
you know they won’t refuse
You said: I will
be of no use there
Falling on my knees then
ear against your belly
opening the door
to my confusion and hurt:
What good will you do here
one among so many?
What amount of hell
can you alone avert?
You said: I will
never desert them
Frozen on my tongue
I found my promise unsaid
and bound for France
the night we fled
Silently now seeping
like a poison
my deed undone:
Our facing the storm
as one
I can still recall you
standing in the clearing
regal as a mountainside
and as apart
That is how I left you
forested with silence
finding then your voice again
as I depart
You said: I will
follow my heart true
You said: I will stay
endure and bear witness
