Brown Boy to Brown Girl
(Remembrance on a hill) (For Yolande)
“AS surely as I hold your hand in mine,As surely as your crinkled hair beliesThe enamoured sun pretending that he diesWhile still he loiters in its glossy shine,As surely as I break the slender lineThat spider linked us with, in no least wiseAm I uncertain that these alien skiesDo not our whole life measure and confine.No less, once in a land of scarlet sunsAnd brooding winds, before the hurricaneBore down upon us, long before this pain,We found a place where quiet water runs;I held your hand this way upon a hill,And felt my heart forebear, my pulse grow still.”
“AS surely as I hold your hand in mine,As surely as your crinkled hair beliesThe enamoured sun pretending that he diesWhile still he loiters in its glossy shine,As surely as I break the slender lineThat spider linked us with, in no least wiseAm I uncertain that these alien skiesDo not our whole life measure and confine.No less, once in a land of scarlet sunsAnd brooding winds, before the hurricaneBore down upon us, long before this pain,We found a place where quiet water runs;I held your hand this way upon a hill,And felt my heart forebear, my pulse grow still.”
“AS surely as I hold your hand in mine,
“AS surely as I hold your hand in mine,
As surely as your crinkled hair belies
The enamoured sun pretending that he dies
While still he loiters in its glossy shine,
As surely as I break the slender line
That spider linked us with, in no least wise
Am I uncertain that these alien skies
Do not our whole life measure and confine.
No less, once in a land of scarlet suns
And brooding winds, before the hurricane
Bore down upon us, long before this pain,
We found a place where quiet water runs;
I held your hand this way upon a hill,
And felt my heart forebear, my pulse grow still.”