Answer me this
What do lovers do
When there is no more meeting?
When night comes down, quietly,
And the moon rises over the fields …
Even the dew on the grass must be pressed down
By the eager feet of the returning dreamers;
Hand turned against hand, like two children
Coming back to a garden;
Voices soft, and anxious, and blurred with their intolerable longing!
Answer me this
What do lovers do
When there is no more meeting?
Immortality, 1943
Immortality …
It's such a big word
I always thought it was something tremendous -
Big … like a cathedral …
Or the Sea …
Now, I think it's little
But very certain -
Sometimes, it's in a ring,
Or a pair of wings,
Or the badge off a Tanker's cap -
Or a kiss -
Sometimes it's a cable …
"Safe and well
All my love."
Sometimes it's a child -
How he turns his head,
The shape of his hands,
His laugh
With the head thrown back,
And joy, like a shining sword
Cutting the dark -
Immortality …
It's what goes on,
It's what marches on
After the march is over -
It's wings in the sky
After the plane is down -
It's tears and laughter
And Beauty … burning like a star
Alive, … in the heart …
Forever!