A certain man knocked
at his friend's door:
his friend asked:
"Who is there?"
He answered "I."
"Begone," said his friend,
"tis too soon!
at my table
there is no place
for the raw.
How shall the raw be cooked
but in the fire of absence?
What else will deliver him
from hypocrisy?"
He turned sadly away,
and for a whole year
the flames of separation
consumed him;
Then he came back
and again paced to and fro
beside the house of his friend.
He knocked at the door
with a hundred fears and reverence
lest any disrespectful word
might escape from his lips.
"Who is there?"
cried the friend.
He answered:
"Thou, O charmer
of all hearts."
"Now," said the friend,
"since thou art I,
come in,
there is no room
for two I's
in this house."
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