How innocuous we thought it
When so long ago we did start
To build our love a monument
With brick and mortar of the heart.

The hotter that burned our passion,
The faster the obelisk soared;
Seemed Mercury the bricks fashioned
While Hephaestus’s furnace roared.

And soon we overtook Babel,
And, oh, how mighty was our fall!
Lo, now we are dispersed rabble
With no comprehension at all.

How sweet was our soul’s communion;
A light and beauty that did lend
Happiness to oblivion.
Love’s language lost, blown on the wind.