On This Side of Sorrow

 
If I could see you up close, if I could touch you,
I would truly become normal again.


I cannot even imagine myself without you,
I simply cannot bear to be apart from you!
If someday I must stay away, compelled by force,
know this—that day will bring me endless pain.


Though you may feel no pain for me,
though you can manage not to speak with me,
I suffer greatly for you,
I cannot bear not speaking with you—
by now, surely you've understood this in countless ways.


What you make of all this madness of mine,
what you know, what judgments you form,
I won't venture there—I only want you to know this:
these feelings I have for you, I call them love.


The day I can no longer bear
any humiliation from you,
that day I'll consider
what to do with these feelings, where to go.


But until the moment before that day arrives,
I will say it a thousand times, in a thousand ways:
I love you!


And yes, those people who are cruel like you—
they're not well either. Remember that.