Thomas Pynchon

Love never goes away, Never completely dies, Always some souvenir Takes us by sad surprise. You went away from me, One rose was left behind — pressed in my Book of Hours, That is the rose I find … Though it’s another year, though it’s another me, under the rose is a drying tear, Under my linden tree …. Love never goes away, Not if it’s really true, It can return, by night, by day, Tender and green and new As the leaves from a linden tree, love, That I left with you.