A Doll ... and a Statue

— My love ... come with me ...
Upon the everlasting rocks
we will build our blue dreams ...
And on the edges of the knolls
we will confide our eternal secret ...
And beneath the shadows of the forest
we will sow the earth with love and fruitfulness ...
Come with me ... and be at ease ...
— But the cold is bitter ...
and there is no shelter there ...
— Here I have built you a temple, my love,
inside this warm, trusty shrine.
Come .. open its door with your hands ...
and let it be done gently ..
Do not throw it wide open ...
Open it just a crack ...
and enter quickly ..
for the cold is biting .. and I fear it
may steal inside
and poison it ... and paralyze it, and the warmth will be lost,
and the perfume —
the perfume will be lost .. and I gathered it for you
drop ... by drop ...
from the virgin lilies ...
and from every maiden rose ...
— And the desolate stillness and the awful silence?
— From the pillars of the shrine I made you strings
that pour out poetry as a joyous melody
and fashion the tune into a wondrous magic ...
— Does no sun rise upon our shrine? Does no
star watch over it?
— The sun may set, my love,
and the stars may grow old ..
but love in our shrine grows not old, nor
does it set ...

★

And my beloved's veins were oozing desire ..
and his eyes striking sparks of flame ..
as he entered the door of the shrine ...
— How marvelous this shrine, and how mighty
its magic!!
It has refreshed my breast with its perfumes ...
and warmed my heart with its love and its tenderness,
and made my soul drunk with its song and its melodies ..
But ...

★

So I clutched my breast, locking its doors
and making fast its corners, until morning rose — and behold,
the shrine ...
no rose in it ... and no garden ...
no melody in it ... and no perfume ...
no warmth in it ... and no beloved ...
All that was in the shrine .. in one of
its far corners ..
was a candle shuddering .. sending out its last
death-rattle ..
And then I knew that my beloved had entered the temple
last night, and it had not been a dream.