Grief is only…
by Sorley MacLean
Grief is only a nothing
and love is only a crumb
in the face of the stars extending
and the Earth going round.
And the many millions of years
since the Earth has gone as a flame
and the many million times
its course has encircled love.
What do I care for its circuits,
for its distant ancient course
since it will not give with its sunlight
any kind of permanence to my love.
Let it romp for the race of its permanence
through the grey fields of the skies
since it cannot be triumphantly fashioned
as a form of love to my reason.
Since there is no heed of our desires
in the perverse eternal circlings
I do not heed its hundreds
or millions of tales of love.
If the face of my love could be
beautiful and lasting forever
I would defy Time with its powers
with its novelty and paean of growth.