We present this work in honor of the poet’s 465th birthday.

What good is this petty love of exchanging little gifts?
Wager your life on love, and see if you lose or win.

When the fish is cut up, it’s washed in water; eat it and you thirst for water.
How great is the fish’s love for its mate, that even when dead it yearns for water.

Some burn and then go out, and some never burn at all.
But those who burn with love go out and then flare again.

A sugarcane is full of juice all over.
Except where there’s a knot, and that’s how love is.

The path of love is arduous, not everyone makes it to the end.
You mount a horse made of wax and ride through a blazing fire.