The Love Which Rules Me

This love is more exotic, more erotic, yes,

than all the lore can contain;

more sumptuous and more voluptuous,

and simpler it is, plainer as well, I'll explain:

Rich in color and in tones, this love,

humble as a mendicant, majestic as his staff;

natural as a baby's breathing life,

aged as a crone who can rage and can laugh.

Enfolding you within its wings, as it embraces me,

the lion and the lamb in one;

it moves – and moves within, this form as free

as it commands, and guides, and calls me son.

At sixty I remain in debt to all who brought me here,

the love that was in me invested shall not have been in vain;

still as a pond, roaring like cascading river:

life-giving force, of never-ceasing inspiration.