A Separate Time

In the years since I saw you on Sunday I left my house and walked out on the earth With only my occasional luck and knowledge of cards I met men and women, constantly dissatisfied who had not learned to close their hands Sewing and patching their few words Fashioning garments they hoped to grow into There were winters sheltered in a cabin beneath pines Frozen rivers, animals crazy with hunger But always I saw myself Walking toward you As a drop of water touching the earth Immediately turns toward the sea, toward the sea The sea in a separate time A separate time Tonight I visit your house In the time that's precious to newspapers and clocks Only a few days, a few days have passed The room is quiet, quiet Looking into your eyes, I am an exile turning the corner Turning the corner of the last cliff, who suddenly sees his home valley With its steep terraced fields, and its white-roofed houses Gathered there on the hillside And then the smell of woodsmoke, and a woman Calling her husband in for the night, in for the night, The night in a separate time A separate time Always I see myself walking toward you As a drop of water touching the earth Immediately turns toward the sea, toward the sea The sea in a separate time A separate time In a separate time In a separate time In a separate time