The first time I saw her, light was falling, Air was rich like the last days of Autumn. Despite her dazzle and warmth, I was melancholy, As I have always been in the presence of beauty. From then on I tried every day to be decent. When I was crass, her lovely shoulders Drooped like finished tulips in the garden. I did not want to wait and yet i waited AS I had never done before and surely in time the delicate snows began to fall. So the glory of my restraint inspired me, I became eloquent, attentive, civilized. Times I had to say goodbye to her became The greatest burdens of my onerous life. Although she gave me no reason to doubt, I was constantly afraid, I thought perhaps A god might come and take her from me, Somehow it pleased me that others admired her, Yet it made my knuckles Turn white like worried Children.
PAUL ZIMMER