This Night Only

by Kenneth Rexroth

[Eric Satie: GYMNOPÉDIE #1]

Moonlight   now   on Malibu

The winter night   the few stars

Far away   millions   of miles

The sea   going on   and on

Forever   around   the earth

Far   and   far   as your lips   are near

Filled   with the same light   as your eyes

Darling   darling   darling

The future   is long gone by

And the past   will never happen

We have   only this

Our one forever

So small   so infinite

So brief   so vast

Immortal   as our hands that touch

Deathless   as the firelit wine we drink

Almighty   as this single kiss

That has no beginning

That will never

Never

End

From the Writer’s Almanac