Address to My Beloved

by Piet Hein

Some girls I worship from afar
to passionate excess
But when I meet them face to face
I love them rather less.

Some other girls I love afresh
each time I meet again.
It's not until they're out of sight
that love begins to wane

But you alone, my love, I love
wherever you may be.
So you can stay, or go away –
it's all the same to me.

Piet Hein is a Danish mathematician, physicist, writer, designer, and pithy, wry, funny poet. Several of his collections, called Grooks, have recenty been reprinted.