Come With Me, I Said, And No One Knew

Walk alone



If they do not answer to your call, walk alone.

If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,

“unfortunate” one,

open your mind and speak out alone.



If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,

“unfortunate” one,

trample those thorns under your tread,

and along the bloodied track travel alone.



If they do not hold up the light on that stormy night,

“unfortunate” one,

with the flame of pain ignite your heart

and let it burn alone.

- Tagore

Come With Me, I Said, And No One Knew

Come with me, I said, and no one knew

where, or how my pain throbbed,

no carnations or barcaroles for me,

only a wound that love had opened.



I said it again: Come with me, as if I were dying,

and no one saw the moon that bled in my mouth

or the blood that rose into the silence.

O Love, now we can forget the star that has such thorns!



That is why when I heard your voice repeat

Come with me, it was as if you had let loose

the grief, the love, the fury of a cork-trapped wine



the geysers flooding from deep in its vault:

in my mouth I felt the taste of fire again,

of blood and carnations, of rock and scald.

 - Pablo Neruda