ESPLANAR

The More Loving One

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all the stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

[W. H. Auden, Setembro de 1957, em Selected Poems, Vintage, 1989, p. 237].

Auden nasceu em 21 de Fevereiro de 1907; tinha cinquenta anos, portanto.
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