Don’t undo my undoing or my solitude
Nor aloofness. Dearer are you to me than one
Thousand triumphs and sweeter to my heart than all
The world glory I could have. Do knock down the wall
That protects my protection. Your work can I shun
If it shows me the falsity I have pursued?

Take away my self-knowledge and stark defiance.
Through you I know I’m yet young with swiftness of foot
Not to be trapped by withering laurels. In you
I have found my aloneness and joy overdue
For the scorn followed up with negative input.
If my pride attempts speaking, don’t give it a chance.

Take my sword and my shield. In your eyes I have read
That to be enthroned is to be in slavery,
And to be understood is to be leveled down.
I would be but a pauper if I wore a crown.
To be grasped is to reach but the fullness of me
Like a fruit to be eaten. What is there to dread?

Defeat my deathless courage, my bold companion.
You shall hear my song, silences, and feeble cries.
None but you will speak to me of beating of wings,
The urging of the seas, and such meaningful things.
With the storm we’ll both laugh, and what’s in us that dies
We’ll dig graves for them. Then we will stand in the sun.