Pale Blue Eyes No. 2

I have known you--

Not long, yes,

And yes,

It was between the blinkings

Of mad stage lights

Or the swirlings of strange twilights--

Nonetheless I have known you,

And let no reasoning practical soul

Tell me I have not.

For I have known 

The witchcraft of your eyes

When they descend on me

From mysterious skies,

And I have known the gentleness

Of your sorrow

Looking out onto a deadly world,

Known the lightness of your touch,

Known it to be the touch

Not of a vampire or a miser,

But an explorer,

A shy adventurer’s plea

Merely to live.

I am told by fathers and kings that

You are young,

But the blue wisdom of those dark smiles

Says otherwise;

We are on fire,

Our minds are on fire,

Our limbs are on fire,

Our hearts;

And what is youth,

What is thirty or twelve or a thousand

In the light of this fire?

Come to me,

Wrap me with your kind legs,

Your crimson kisses,

Give what you will of love or of madness;

I will take it up.

Break what you will of the life you know;

I will stand here

Wanting like an animal,

Fighting to civilize myself

Against this furious hunger,

Burning with love and greed,

But a friend finally,

I say a friend here finally,

To know you,

To know you,

To know you.