Song- John Ashbery

The song tells us of our old way of living,
Of life in former times. Fragrance of florals,
How things merely ended when they ended,
Of beginning again into a sigh.
Later
Some movement is reversed and the urgent masks
Speed toward a totally unexpected end
Like clocks out of control.
Is this the gesture
That was meant, long ago, the curving in
Of frustrated denials, like jungle foliage
And the simplicity of the ending all to be let go

In quick, suffocating sweetness? The day

Puts toward a nothingness of sky
Its face of rusticated brick.
Sooner or later,
The cars lament, the whole business will be hurled down.

Meanwhile we sit, scarcely daring to speak,

To breathe, as though this closeness cost us life.

The pretensions of a past will some day
Make it over into progress, a growing up,
As beautiful as a new history book

With uncut pages, unseen illustrations,

And the purpose of the many stops and starts will be made clear:

Backing into the old affair of not wanting to grow

Into night, which becomes a house, a parting of ways
Taking us far into sleep.
A dumb love