684 and 685

Of all good things that you could do for me,

just stay. Just stay! I pray that you will stay.

If e’er a better gift there seems to be,

forget it. Stay. And never go away.

All tempting offers lose their power when,

close by enough to hear your quiet heart,

you make so clearly counterfeit again

anything that a siren can impart.

So stay close! Do not go. You are the sound

that quiets silence. Silence does me wrong,

and finds me where my underbelly’s found,

which you alone can guard when you’re along.

You keep traps made for me so far away

whenever you draw near to me. Please stay.

~~~

This life is not for seeing. No, I’ll not

be he who plagues you with its grotesque mark.

Know not the sidewalk walk, the moonlit thought

that came while wandering beneath the dark.

A burden to you it would be, they said.

And I thought, why make hard the load of one

I love? Of course I’ll keep it down instead,

I would not want to make anyone run!

These things are just for me. This life, for me,

not you. But yours I’ll learn—what tales you’ve spun!

I wish indeed to know. I want to see

a life that’s better than this hidden one.

But mine... You have to ask. I cannot share

what others have found so burdensome there.