My Deva Love

(To the tune of "The Water Is Wide")

My Deva love, this is the song
My heart has urged my soul to write,
So that thy heart, when this reaches thee,
May know that same recall'd delight.

"The water is wide", a King once sang,
And yearned for boat to cross that sea.
Thy dear assent, like Helen's face,
Hath launched this craft to sail to thee.

On a wintry night, in a northern clime,
When e'en the stars lay close above,
I warmed my heart, forgetting time,
All cares aside, on thy fiery love.

"And why," thou say'st, "dost thou love me?"
My foolish heart no more can tell
Than a bird can say why it has to fly,
Or dolphins sport in the ocean swell.

I met a cat with an eager purr,
I took her home to stroke and pet.
No cat was she, but a lioness;
The wounds she gave I cherish yet.

In a secret glen, in the forest deep,
The raspberries grow thick and wild;
O Deva love, when thou dost sleep,
Thou smilest sweet as any child.

—Cupertino and Eugene
2/8/1985