Because of the memory of one we held dear,
Call to mind where she lived and the ruins there
Among the silken shrubs. I have dismounted where
Her children played, and watch the pale sky grow clear.
And as for me, standing between the silken shrub and the broom
And tasting the breath of the blue sage, I must stay
Though my friends are setting out with the first of the day,
And they murmur to me, ‘Do not linger in that gloom;
Remember that tears make whole the heart.’ But I say
‘Is there nowhere I may rest among the shells
Of the ruins and the droppings of white gazelles?
However brief my hours are, I would delay.’
The tears that fall from my eyes have wet my hands
Holding the reins of my horse. How many hours
Were sweet to me because of women! These showers
Bring to my mind that day among pale sands,
Call to mind how one came with me unwillingly
On an evening warm as another country’s noons,
And all seemed of long ago among those dunes
And under a clear sky, under a clear green sky.