Conversations

   
  
   The More Loving One
    Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
   That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
   But on earth indifference is the least
   We have to dread from man or beast.

   How should we like it were stars to burn
   With a passion for us we could not return?
   If equal affection cannot be,
   Let the more loving one be me.

   Admirer as I think I am
   Of stars that do not give a damn,
   I cannot, now I see them, say
   I missed one terribly all day.

   Were all stars to disappear or die,
   I should learn to look at an empty sky
   And feel its total dark sublime,
   Though this might take me a little time.

   W.H.Auden