Oscar Williams

From “Under the Sun”

DO not lose yourself, O my love, in song and in music,

Or you will be lost like a dewdrop’s dream of the morning

Swept away by a cataract’s myriad-throated rushing.

Do not lose yourself in the light words of gay voices,

In the drumming of dancing feet, in the loudness of laughter.

Do not lose yourself, O my love, in song and in music;

For only in the silence can love speak to you,

Only in the silence can you whisper your answer.

Do not hide yourself, O my love, in light or in color,

Or you will be hidden as the world is hidden in sunlight

Away from the dreams and the twilights of nebular spaces.

Do not hide yourself in crystal bulbs or in rainbows—

Though romance wears scintillant tinsel, her heart is crying.

Do not hide yourself, O my love, in light or in color;

For only in the darkness can life find you,

Only in the darkness can you follow his light.