At Evening

By Vikram Seth

Posted by bsp on March 2020

Let me now sleep, let me not think, let me Not ache with inconsistent tenderness.
It was untenable delight; we are free--
Separate, equal--and if loverless,
Love consumes time which is more dear than love,
More unreplicable. With everything
Thus posited, the choice was clear enough
And daylight ratified our reckoning.

Now only movement marks the birds from the pines;
Now it's dark; the blinded stars appear;
I am alone, you cannot read these lines
Who are with me when no one else is here,
Who are with me and cannot hear my voice
And take my hand and abrogate the choice.
With your bitter, twisted lies
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

To go places and do things that have never been done before – that’s what living is all about.