February 17, 1978

Lay Your Head on My Shoulder
Translated by Robert Friend

Lay your head on my shoulder
because my shoulder
knows things
your head dare not dream
and your mouth cannot say.

The fates say
one of us must be the wind,
the other a tree in the wind,
or a tree on a windless day.

The fates say
your being born in the war
augurs my end,
my end will be your that day.

How long will they lay
upon us pacts of grief,
treaties of despair?
Let me put it this way:
time does not suffice
to be
two together twice
through all one lifetime.
Let me put it this way:
even this tender, even this
finite heart
is nothing but a shoulder.

Rest, rest your head, therefore.