You said that I could find you
In the space that lies between
The reality that binds you
And the traces of your dream.

You asked me, “Can you dance
To a poem by Baudelaire?”
“La danse,” said I. “C’est la poésie
Avec des bras et des jambes.”

Your hands made a ballroom of my body
Your fingers tap-danced on my skin
Oh, and how I moved under your melody
Like a waltzing gypsy violin.

I pull the land on which you live
Closer to where I stand

In one smooth motion
I narrow the ocean
Uniting our shores
Until yours is mine
And mine is yours

No more miles
Between our smiles
Just a sliver of the sea
Like a scar in the sands
Keeps you and me
From holding hands.

Jou lag
Weef ‘n lied
Deur jou liggam.

Jou glimlag
Skryf ‘n gedig
Op jou gesig.

Jou trane
Teken ‘n toekoms
Op jou wange.

Jou hart
Klop ‘n ritme
Van verlange.

Jy was ‘n silwer seisoen
Versier met groen verassings
Ek was natuur se weduwee
Winter-kaal en kleurloos.

Jy kon duidelik sien
My siel was was vas betrap
In ‘n gebreekte grafsteen.

En ek het niks geweet
Van roomys drome, wilger bome
Of die heiligheid van somer reën.

Ek sal nooit vergeet
Hoe, in die sterlig
Jy my naam verander het
Na ‘n gedig.

En in jou vrugbare voetspore
Was ek van voor af gebore
Terwyl jy, in die sonsopkoms van my toekoms
Vir my ‘n sandkasteel bou.

Droog en skaamteloos soos ‘n woestyn
Het ek geraamteloos verdwyn
Agter jou albaster oë.

Ek kan sien
Hoe die holte en die oorloop
Van ‘n leeftyd se hoop en verlang
Jou skielik vang.

En so raak ek verlore
Tussen die miriade woorde
Wat jy nie verby
Jou lippe kan kry.

I wanted you to sit
On a park bench
In the middle of the city

And watch me sail away in the sky
Like a kite of many colours
Wondering what happened to your band of brothers

I first saw you in a cloud shaped like a man
And in the wingspan of an eagle

Feeling the grass moving between my toes
I flowered and froze
To become the shape you chose

I wanted you to grow me
Like a tiger lily
I wanted your hand to fit
In the small of my back

But instead my bones turned black
And I blossomed and burned
When your back was turned

I should’ve flown
Before your eyes caught me
And turned me into stone

In your shadow, I am never alone
In your echo, I’m a semi-tone

The history of our love
Like a mystery, like a dove
Is written in graffiti
Where our harboured street
And the moon’s reflection meet

And I’ll always wonder how
You manage to make me feel so tall
And at the same time
So incredibly small

I’m sorry I beheld you like a painting
I’m sorry I never held you like a person
I’m sorry I couldn’t complete the story you started writing as a boy
About the child inside a whale

I’m sorry I couldn’t finish your tale
About the girl cradled in an orange rind
I’m sorry I could not be the story
Of your woman of glory…

I just failed to find
Where you ended and I began
So I ran…