Will Not Come Back (after Becquer) by Robert Lowell (1917 – 1977)

Dark swallows will doubtless come back killing
the injudicious nightflies with a clack of the beak;
but these that stopped full flight to see your beauty
and my good fortune… as if they knew our names –
they’ll not come back.  The thick lemony honeysuckle,
climbing from the earthroot to your window,
will open more beautiful blossoms to the evening:
but these… like dewdrops, trembling, shining, falling,
the tears of day – they’ll not come back…
Some other love will sound his fireword for you
and wake your heart, perhaps, from its cool sleep;
but silent, absorbed, and on his knees,
as men adore God at the altar, as I love you –
don’t blind yourself, you’ll not be loved like that


Robert Lowell