Sonnet 2: Lost in Translation

For L.

What do you mean,

Beyond that which I think?

You’re nothing like a machine,

Meaning conveyed and meaning derived out of sync.

Your sentences are that of a puzzle,

One which I have no hope to complete.

Your words provide me with a muzzle,

A thought close to utterance now forced to delete.

But despite my ineptitude you gave me a chance,

I gave all I had to translate what you were feeling.

In my inevitable failure you left me without a glance,

a shy kid now forced into dealing.

You wrote upon my heart with indelible ink.

Without you, further into darkness I sink.