^{translated by Muna Lee}

Now, O Christ, seal my eyelids,

Let ice on my lips be spread!

All the hours are superfluous,

All the words are said!

He looked on me,

We looked each on each

In silence, for a long space—

Our look as rigid as death’s

The stupor that whitens the face,

In the last agony, blanched us.

After that instant life hold nothing more!

I head him speak

Convulsively. I spoke.

My words—a confusion

Of plentitude, tribulations, and fears—

Hesitated, broke.

I spoke of his destiny, of mine—

A mortar of blood and tears.

After this I know there can be nothing more.

Nothing! No perfume but would roll

Diluted down my cheek.

My ears are shut, my mouth is sealed!

What meaning for me now

By pallid earth could be revealed?

What to me are bleeding roses,

Or quiet snows congealed?

Therefore, O Christ, I plead to You now;

Though when anguished with hunger I stilled my cries.

But now, stop my pulses!

Shut the lids over my eyes!

Protect against the tempest

This flesh that was thronged with his words.

Let not the brutal daylight

Shatter this image to shards.

Receive me! I go without stain.

And I go fulfilled, like a flooded plain.