FOUR XII

you being in love
will tell who softly asks in love,

am i separated from your body smile brain hands merely
to become the jumping puppets of a dream?   oh i mean:
entirely having in my careful how
careful arms created this at length
inexcusable,this inexplicable pleasure—you go from several
persons:believe me that strangers arrive
when i have kissed you into a memory
slowly,oh seriously
—that since and if you disappear

solemnly
myselves
ask “life,the question how do i drink dream smile

and how do i prefer this face to another and
why do i weep eat sleep—what does the whole intend”
they wonder.   oh and they cry “to be,being,that i am alive
this absurd fraction in its lowest terms
with everything cancelled
but shadows
—what does it all come down to?   love?   Love
if you like and i like,for the reason that i
hate people and lean out of this windowis love,love
and the reason that i laugh and breathe is oh love and the reason

that i do not fall into this street is love.”