Bei Hennef by DH Lawrence

The little river twittering in the twilight,

The wan, wondering look of the pale sky,

    This is almost bliss.

And everything shut up and gone to sleep,

All the troubles and anxieties and pain

    Gone under the twilight.

Only the twilight now, and the soft 'Sh!' of the river

    That will last for ever.

And at last I know my love for you is here;

I can see it all, it is whole like the twilight,

It is large, so large, I could not see it before,

Because of the little lights and flickers and interruptions,

    Troubles, anxieties and pains.

You are the call and I am the answer,

You are the wish, and I the fulfilment,

You are the night, and I the day.

    What else? it is perfect enough.

    It is perfectly complete,

    You and I,

    What more-?

Strange, how we suffer in spite of this!

Hennef am Rhein

Bei Hennef by DH Lawrence

This article appeared in the Guardian on Saturday May 31 2008 on p23 of the Features & reviews section. It was last updated at 00:50 on May 31 2008.

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