For long I held this secret in my breast,
Like wounded birds that fear the autumn gale;
I trembled lest one word, too bold, expressed,
Should make the bond between us break and fail.
My heart beats wild within its cage of bone,
My hands are cold as I approach the brink;
Yet I can hide no more, to thee alone,
The sacred draught of love I yearn to drink.
Now must I speak, challenging vertigo,
That thou art sun and dawn and sweet delight;
Before thy grace, my spirit bows down low,
Scarcely believing in such fortune bright.
Accept this verse, a herald pure and true,
Of love that flourished in the shade unseen;
Allow my wandering soul to rest in you,
And dwell forever where thy gaze has been.
To speak one’s heart is to step onto a precipice of vulnerability. These verses capture that fleeting moment between silence and truth, where the fear of loss is finally outweighed by the majestic necessity of love.
