A Vow

I love you. But will not mention it again.
Love cannot see its image in the glass;
it uses others' dark insouciant eyes
and other people's beauty as its own
--grace, irony, and mercy--love has none.
Say the words, you are its target, and
its jape.
Or say that saying it creates a bond.
Yet nothing given in return would be
enough to make this obligation square.
Not lips, not promises, not paradise
would make us equals in the worlds of men,
and the generosity your eyes convey
says, 'I am alone in this; you cannot be
the oarsman where I'm travelling, or my guide'.