INTIMATE

Oh night, pure night beneath the stars!
The firm, serene heavens illumine me
But without breaking this sweet dark
That conceals and shelters me.
Invisible to each other, men
Yet see company in the constellations,
Which tremble only if we contemplate them
Through an atmosphere criss-crossed
With our own uneasy worries.
Pure night,
So clement to the eye, though terrible
Across spaces, the far remotest spaces
In solitudes so empty—
As long as consciousness, the glance of a quick
Attention, does not enlighten them.
And within this calm—which I too maintain
To the rhythm of the multitude of planets—
The night arises where we all,
Alone and yet united, form
An incomprehensible sovereign
League of the tiny.
God or the universe, eternal.
Night!