You wanted me to change, you hoped that I
Could change, you thought that if I rectified
My eyes, ignored my yearnings and denied
My nightly dreams, I’d learn to modify
Myself; you fantasized that by and by
I’d change, if only I would try. I tried,
But nothing changed inside. Instead, I died
A thousand deaths, just as today I die.
Acknowledge this — although I could have lied
A thousand times, I never told you lies,
Not once, just as today I do not lie
About the life we lead. So side by side
We lie together, night by night, as sighs
Pursue their consummation, sigh by sigh.