At the End

If I never see you again,
if I cannot hold you close once more,
if I suddenly cease to be,
if I have no time to even say 'I'm leaving…'
then…then press your ear to the wind,
listen for that melancholy tune
that touched me as I departed,
the one I whispered to, "I love you so…
if I must go, tell her this!"

Perhaps now I'm writing life's last letter,
these two hands wet with evening starlight will dry no more,
and perhaps my heart won't return to your familiar clamor.
When the river flows through my nest of pain,
that day my thoughts will no longer be so wholly yours!
Even then, know that as I left, gazing skyward,
holding my breath,
I wrote upon the bodies of sun and moon…still I love!

I know when I am gone,
your deep eyes will never rain, not even by mistake,
amid the kingdom's pressing tasks you'll find no moment to think of me,
among a hundred sorrows this fragment-cloud's memory will fade!
That day, though you'll still have me, I won't have you anymore!

Know this still, before I go, in the folds of your busy words
I've left a sliver of speech—that I love you so!
If someday I suddenly leave without warning,
the vines, flowers, birds will bear witness…she had said…
keep her love safe and sound!