The other side of the world
You’ve run away
I don’t blame you
You are young
And beautiful
And full of life
And there is nothing for you here
On this side of the world
Except for me
And my love
Here
Burning
Beating
Like the very core of the heart of the most sacrosanct of angels
Here
On this side of the world
But you
My love
My Odysseus
Cannot be with me
No
You must journey to where
fights and monsters and romances await you
On the other side of the world
Very well
But what is to become of me?
I am not so eroded
I too have youth and beauty and life
Of a sort
I too have romances
Suitors
At my door
On this side of the world
What am I to do?
Each day that passes
Grinds at my heart's tender muscle
The heart I gave to you
And days have turned to weeks have turned to months
And still
You are on the other side of the world
Am I to wait for you?
Is that my fate?
To wait at your door
Like some diseased dastard dog
To wait for that golden day when you return
To this side of the world?
My suitors are many
And seductive
And no doubt offer me golden times
And nighttimes of incense and silk and wine
But the message the gods give me
The message in my heart
Says only this:
‘Wait’
‘Wait for her’
‘Wait for her, here, on this side of the world’
To the other side of the world
This poem is addressed
May it reach your ears
And reach your heart
And cause in you such a fury
Such a passion
That you will come back to me,
My love,
My Odysseus,
Come back to me
On this side of the world.
William Prothero