When I speak into the silence
when a chain of grey Sundays
is all I have to give
when a bare bed all
I have to share this passion on
that the bodies of this world can’t satisfy
when the words in Spanish don’t suffice
to say what I see
when my eyes and motion and my voice
are struck dumb
when I have cast out the dread
of dying every death
when I have no more time to be me,
or yen to be what I’ve never been
when an eternity of nothings and unremembering
is all I have to offer
eternities in which I cannot see or touch you
stir you to jealousy or murder you
when I can no more answer for myself
than I have day or body
then will I be yours
then I will love you always
Aridjis, Homero. “A Love Poem.” Trans. Geoge McWhirter. Eyes to See Otherwise: Selected Poems = Ojos, de otro mirar. Eds. Betty Ferber and George McWhirter. New York: New Directions Book, 2002. p. 225.