THE LOVER'S DISCOURSE

For Roland Barthes

I

You know how many times we begin it? – Many.
You know how many times we end it? – Many.
You know how many times we crash and burn? – As many times as it’s necessary.

Tell me, do I not know how to please you? – Today, you don't.
Tell me, do I not know how to make you laugh? – Today, yes.
Tell me, do I not know how to make you cry? – Today, yes.

How do I live tomorrow? – Tomorrow is today.
How do I breathe today? – Today is tomorrow.
How do I love forever? – Forever is now.

To know how to give
To know how to take
To know how to know

You

II

The Rabbi Elya tells the prophet El to stop imitating Jabès in poor fashion. Done. Quoting is better. El cites from THE POWER OF KEYS: “the ditch will never be a well, O blessing of the void. The heart loves and is loved only in the body, the kindness of eyes. Truth, enemy of form, repudiates the heart.”

The Rabbi Elya asks the prophet El: what did you want to touch? – The naked body.
The Rabbi Elya asks the prophet El: what have you touched? – The naked soul.
The Rabbi Elya asks the prophet El: what will you touch? – The naked image.

The prophet El issues a new prophetic vision in the form of a conclusion. All as a quotation, in inverted commas; the title, as is, and the text in jabèesquian parenthesis: "THE END AND THE MEANS (To desire something passionately means suppressing the heat of any other desire, means fusing all your desires into one, possessing nothing in order to claim everything at once. The most deprived have the maddest desires. Emptiness aspires to be filled. Wanting to be the poorest for love in order to be one day – who knows? – the most fortunate…)"

III

You follow me. I cite: “Anoki”. Me. “Ana Nafshi Ketivat Yahavit.” I take you from “me” to “I state my soul in writing.” I do. You sign yourself over to reading. You do.