wait for me

This time is difficult. Wait for me.
We will live it out vividly.
Give me your small hand:
we will rise and suffer
we will feel, we will fly.

We are once more the pair
who lived in barbed places,
in harsh nests in the rock.
This time is difficult. Wait for me
with a basket, with your clothes,
with your shoes and a shovel.

Now we need each other,
not only for the carnations’ sake,
not only to harvest honey--
we need our hands
to wash with, to make fire.
So in this difficult time
let us face up to infinity
with four hands and four eyes.
[Pablo Neruda, 'With Her', from Intimacies]