Читать книгу Collected Love Poems - Brian Patten - Страница 8

Thanks, but please take back

the trinket box, the picture

made from butterfly wings and

the crystal glass.

Please take back the books,

the postcards, the beeswax candles,

the potted plant, the Hockney print

and the expensive pen.

Ungracious of me to say it, but

so many gifts that are given

are given in lieu of what

cannot be given.

Ungracious to say it, but

wherever I move in this room

it’s not these gifts I see, but your absense

that accumulates on them like dust.

Forgive me. Your intentions

were so very kind, but here’s

your box of fetters back. It’s not

what I need for the present.