You with hands more innocent than mine
and with the wisdom of nonchalance,
You who can read his loneliness
from his forehead better than I,
and remove the slow shadows of hesitation
from his face,
as the spring wind removes
the shadows of clouds floating above the hill

If your embrace gives courage to the heart
and your thighs detain the pain,
if your name gives rest
to his thoughts, and your neck
is a shade to his resting place,
and if the night of your voice is
a grove still untouched by storms

Than stay by him,
and be more devout than those
who had loved him before you.
Beware the din that approaches
the innocent nests of love.
Be gentle to his sleep
below the invisible mountain
at the edge of the roaring sea.

Walk along his shore.
May the saddened dolphins meet you?
Wander in his woods. Friendly lizards
will not harm you.
And the thirsty serpents that I tamed
will be humble before you.

May the birds which I warmed 
in the nights of sharp frost sing to you.
May the boy whom on a deserted road
I protected from spies caress you.
May the flowers I watered with my tears
bring fragrance to you.
I was not blessed to witness
the best years of his manliness.
I did not receive his fertility
into my bosom ravaged by glances
of cattle drovers at fairs,
and those of greedy thieves.

His children
I shall never lead by the hand. And the stories
which I prepared for them a long time ago
maybe I shall tell weeping
to poor little bears
abandoned in a black forest.

You with hands more innocent than mine
be gentle to his sleep
which is still innocent.
Yet permit me to see his face
when years unknown to me
proceed to descend upon it.

And tell me at times a thing or two about him
that I may not have to question wondering
strangers and neighbors
who have pity for my patience.

You with hands more innocent than mine
stay by his headrest,
and be gentle to his sleep!