From The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Volume A



[I think I will go home and lie very still]

I think I'll go home and lie very still,
        feigning terminal illness.
Then the neighbors will all troop over to stare,
        my love, perhaps, among them.
How she'll smile while the specialists 
        snarl in their teeth!---
    she perfectly well knows what ails me.




[Love of you is mixed deep in my vitals]

Love of you is mixed deep in my vitals,
        like water stirred into flour for bread,
Like simples compound in a sweet-tasting drug,
        like pastry and honey mixed to perfection.
Oh, hurry to look at your love!
        Be like horses charging in battle,
Like a gardner up with the sun
        burning to watch his prize bud open.
High heaven causes a girl's lovelonging.
        It is like being too far from the light,
Far from the hearth of familiar arms.
        It is this being so tangled in you.




[Why, just now, must you question your heart?]

Why, just now, must you question your heart?
        Is it really time for discussion?
To her, say I,
        take her tight in your arms!
For god's sake, sweet man,
        it's me coming at you,
My tunic 
        loose at the shoulder!