Declaration of Love

The moisture from the white teeth of this soft-spoken woman — it is milk and honey, mingled.

What is the bond between body and soul? Whatever it is — that is what exists between this woman and me.

You there — little image in the dark of my pupil — get out. The woman I love needs the room, and there is none left for you.

When she is near, she is life itself to my soul. When she leaves, she is death to it. There is nothing in between.

I would think of her — if I could first forget her. But I have never once forgotten. So when have I ever had the chance to remember?

My beloved never leaves my eyes. And when I blink, he does not even flinch — he is that subtle, that fine, that perfectly fitted to the space inside me.

My lover lives inside my eyes. So I will not line them with kohl — I know it would hide him from me.

My lover lives inside my heart. So I am afraid to eat anything hot — what if it burns him?

I do not blink — because I know that if I do, he will vanish behind my eyelids. And for this alone, this town calls him loveless.

He lives in my heart, joyfully, always. But because he lives far from here in body, this town calls him a stranger who does not love me. Let them.