Sometimes memories of the past

Sometimes memories of the past
Blurred and faint comes to the mind
Subtly testing heart and eye
Some very near, some left behind

In the desert of desire
Stop caravans sometimes half-seen.
Words of love, vague and unsaid
A union that might have been.

The heart and eye find no repose
Joys and sadness are not few.
When she meets me, every time
Love for her begins anew.

This luxury of loneliness,
Oppressive sometimes, sometimes free;
That inner anguish I have borne,
For which the world befriended me.

The censor and the profligate
In the end gained the same score;
One took his place and drank his fill
The other left by the tavern door.