To Shiraz, by Cees Nooteboom

How much time, how much thirst, how many days?

In drought I think of roses,

In a silence full of thistles I think of breasts,

Cupolas of glazed gold.

A traveler through a hundred deserts

is a traveler through one.

He repeats the verse of the poet

on the beads of this thought:

One more sentence, one more day, one more line

Till I can reach you again.

From “The Captain of the Butterflies” by Cees Nooteboom. (Sun & Moon Press: 118 pp., $11.95) Copyright 1997 Reprinted by permission.