I begin to wonder who that beggar was who lit a lamp on the nameless grave and kept constant watch? I've closed you like a book that's never read; I've shut myself up. I've locked all doors to keep the wealth of the house safe. My dreamless nights sleep in unfamiliar arms whose love was ravished long ago. Cars grind into my yard, then drive away. At night, the cries of infants merge with the howls of dogs. Dreamless nights besiege my aging body, but thought-birds are too slow to carry to you its silent plea, or bring back some dreams from you. The birds of thought nest only on the highest branch and the books that are never read sit on the shelves. I've shut myself in unfamiliar arms that lie asleep. After some more years, my body will hang out flags of loose skin and termites will have devoured the books. POEM Please stay. Please stay by my side. Go on seeing in my body the dreams you owe to another love. My soul has paid its debt to you. Who knows whose thought smiled on my body, then blossomed lotus-like in dawn's twilight? Who knows whose dreams sleep in the house I built, whose fragrance fills the garden I laid? May the house of your faithful loves ever flourish! But I am done, finished, lost in distant sands. 84