Heaven's Neighbors Poem by Daniel Mark Epstein

After Victor Hugo


Death and Beauty, see how these goddesses cast
So much light and shade, a wise man might say
They were sisters, both bountiful, frightful, vast,
Guarding the same enigma and mystery.

O ladies, dark and fair, sing, dance and be
Brilliant now, hypnotize me, make the most
Of love! For I am dying. O pearls of the sea,
O luminous birds of the melancholy coast...

Judith, who would have dreamed our destinies
Could ever draw us together—and you so young?
Your eyes are the blue of some divine abyss

While mine show a starry chasm, moonless and cold.
We shall be Heaven's neighbors as long
As you are beautiful, and I am old.