Reflections in Miniature: Three

26. I cannot simply declare: I too have a heart!
The trouble is, your heart remains with me, and mine rests with you apart!

27. I have given up waiting altogether these days!
See, I too have become quite proper, quite set in my ways!

28. My entire being yearns with one desire alone — to see you,
It seems your indifference is stronger than all my love so true!

29. With what frown you turned my tears to laughter, broken and scattered;
Go on, don't call me back — I give you leave from this life that's tattered!

30. Those few harsh words that bring such relief when hurled at someone near — they're never truly close to heart!
But those whose wounds burn deeper in me after I've spoken — they are the ones who never depart!

31. I write the same words again and again: don't come back once more!
Do my letters somehow fail to reach your door?

32. The one I love so deeply cares not a whit for me!
And the one they love, it seems, loves them not — what irony!

33. The one you've found, I wonder, how much do they truly possess of you?
Can just those few kisses heal all the old wounds through and through?

34. You are my only person, this my only home.
You are the closest to me, yet you alone make me feel alone!

35. You think, perhaps, my face is full of smiles, my heart full of poison!
When I die, let me leave my soul with you — that's reason enough!

36. However much you despise me or keep your distance,
I shall become a poet still — mark this down for remembrance!

37. A lover's beauty mark is worth more than any single poem,
For neither the poet nor I can pay such a sum!

38. Who taught the sky to write so much poetry?
And you call the sky's tears merely rain — what folly!

39. I could never touch myself the way you have touched me,
Who taught you to break and remake, to feel so deeply?

40. Why so many questions in your eyes? I'm no criminal, you see!
I'll answer them all, one by one; lover, where's your question sheet for me?

41. Boats float on tears, the wind fills their sails;
Between two hearts, only chase and counter-chase prevails!

42. I haven't found you, I no longer seek your trace;
I'll go to sleep now — so many nights I lie awake in this empty space!

43. Running from yourself, tell me, where will you go?
One whose heart is full of desire alone — where will they find God, do you know?

44. All our memories, you claim to have stored them away with care?
Open your ledger of neglect then, and see — my name heads the list there!

45. Loving someone to distraction doesn't mean love is returned,
Without experiencing neglect, one never learns how love should be earned!

46. I wept in melody, nursing that blood-red wound,
While you hurried away, leaving me in such pain marooned!

47. In my chest I keep only a little joy stored,
Living a life of sorrow, yet telling tales of happiness toward!

48. Both our souls are empty, yours and mine,
Yet we applaud each other's skillful verses of love divine!

49. Today I'll hide my tears in the deep night's scream,
If you heard this cry of separation, you'd go deaf from the extreme!

50. I'll fool even my own eyes to hide these tears that fall,
I will come to you still, to heal this wound in my heart's hall!