Thirty years from now if I could see you again!
By then you would be utterly old— your teeth would have fallen out, your skin grown slack, perhaps even a foul smell would come from your mouth!
Thirty years from now, then your youth would be gone, warmth would retreat, how cold you would grow...
I long even then to have you close. You would suffer illness, I would stay awake beside you, stroke your hair, kiss your forehead; tears would roll down the corners of your eyes, you would clutch my hand to your chest and say, you love me so much! That day everyone would leave, I alone would remain.
But look, I will never see you again...never in any way! When this thought comes to mind, everything feels so empty.
Why did God place so much love within me, if he didn't give me you! I never asked for love, I only wanted to have you!
When you suffer, when you fall ill your wife, your children will care for you. If ever it happens that everyone abandons you, call me that day— if you ask just once, only once, I will leave the entire world behind and come to you.
I want no wealth, no love, I only want to be near you. I can abandon all attachments, I can leave everything behind... I don't know why, you alone I cannot abandon! Everything in me diminishes—only my longing to see you never fades.
If I can never see you again, what need have I for these two eyes! What use is seeing this world, if I cannot see you!
Thirty years from now, or before that, if you should die before me... where will your soul go then? Beyond this world perhaps? So far away? Where will you dwell, leaving me! Tell me, where will you go!
Those who love you, do they love you more than I do? I have no power to forget you; no power to have you, to touch you.
I cannot have you, so I simply go on loving. May you be happy, may you find heaven's bliss on this earth, may you receive all the joy that exists, may you have all of this world entire— this is my thirsting prayer.