Liber Caeli - Chapter 72

Verses

Verse 99

Titania, I measured your absence in Uranian seasons and became old before reaching spring.

Verse 100

You told me not to measure love. I was young and owned instruments.

Verse 101

Oberon crossed the dark between us like a king who had forgotten whether he was rival or witness.

Verse 102

Ariel carried my first letter and returned after I no longer agreed with the man who wrote it.

Verse 103

This is the cruelty of distance: messages preserve selves that time has already dismissed.

Verse 104

I asked Uranus to keep you. Planets are terrible custodians of promises.

Verse 105

Its pole turned toward darkness and stayed there longer than some civilizations remain fashionable.

Verse 106

I learned patience, then resentment, then patience without pride.

Verse 107

Once a cat slept on my unsent letter. I took this as an omen because loneliness lowers evidentiary standards.

Verse 108

The cat woke and tore the corner off.

Verse 109

I sent the damaged letter.

Verse 110

You replied: At last, something honest happened to your poetry.

Verse 111

I loved you again for seven minutes and hated you for three years.

Verse 112

Now the season changes.

Verse 113

I no longer ask whether you are returning. I ask whether I am.