“Of lovers whose bodies smell of each other Who think the same thoughts without need of speech”

“To whom I owe the leaping delightThat quickens my senses in our wakingtimeAnd the rhythm that governs the repose of our sleepingtime,the breathing in unison.Of lovers whose bodies smell of each otherWho think the same thoughts without need of speech,And babble the same speech without need of meaning...No peevish winter wind shall chillNo sullen tropic sun shall witherThe roses in the rose-garden which is ours and ours onlyBut this dedication is for others to read:These are private words addressed to you in public.”

“We die to each other daily. What we know of other people is only our memory of the moments during which we knew them. And they have changed since then. To pretend that they and we are the same is a useful and convenient social convention which must sometimes be broken. We must also remember that at every meeting we are meeting a stranger.”

“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me.”

“I have heard the key Turn in the door once and turn once only We think of the key, each in his prison Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison”

“So I find words I never thought to speakIn streets I never thought I should revisitWhen I left my body on a distant shore.”

“There's no vocabulary For love within a family, love that's lived in But not looked at, love within the light of which All else is seen, the love within which All other love finds speech. This love is silent.”