Nightfall found us still seated on the terrace. 
Long  had we not spoken, 
nor had I tended the  kalyan that stood between us, 
for my thoughts  had wandered into the kingdom of my desire. 

"Thinkest thou thy heart is dead because  it mourns a lover? 
See. The kalyan glows no longer. 
Its  coverlet of pearl grey ash is like unto a shroud. 
And yet... 
Put but forth thy hand and its heart will whisper of its warmth. 
Now I have breathed upon the kalyan, 
and a crimson fire gleams upon thy cheek. 
So thy heart lurks shrouded in the ashes of  the love that passed. 
Speak. Shalline be the breath to rekindle  its glow?" 
And at moonrise her drooping head had found 
its  pillow upon my breast.