listen listen He sat there in the garden. He did not move. The flowers leaned towards him as though they knew his name. I asked him who he was. He said: *The one you called.* I told him I had called no one. He looked at me and said: *Yes.* *You did.* He said my tears had watered the flowers. My sighs had been carried by the birds. My dreams had fallen from the window like stones into a well— and all of them had come to him. He said: There is nothing you desire that does not, in the end, reach me. There is nothing you fear that does not, in the end, reach me. That is what I call— The Call. The Call. I asked him what would happen now. He said: *You tell me.* *You called.* I asked if he knew why I had cried. He said he knew. And then he said: *I came.* *If that is what you want.* *If you want me.* I asked if he could do what I had dreamed of. He said yes. I asked if he wanted to. He answered: *That is not the point.* *You called.* So I asked him what the point was. And he said: You call. I come. You call. I come. I asked why he had not come before. He said the Call had not been strong enough. Not strong enough to wake him. Not strong enough to raise him. Not strong enough to set his feet upon the road to me. I asked if he would stay. He said: *If you want me.* I asked if he wanted to stay. He said: *That is not the point.* But I told him: It is the point to me. Do you want to stay? Again he said: *If you want me.* So I asked: Do you want me? And again: *That is not the point.* I said: I want you to want me. And then— he smiled. He said: *I do.* I said: I want you to want to stay. He smiled again. *Now you understand,* he said. I asked him if he would love me. He answered: *If you ask it of me.* But I said: No. Not because I ask. Will you love me because you want to? And he said: *Yes.* I asked him what I had to do. He said: *Tell me you want me.* I asked: Is that all you need? He said: *That is all I need.* He said: *Touch me.* I asked him where. And he answered: *You know.* I want you. You called. I want you. I came. I want you. *Say it again.* I want you. *You call.* I come. I want you. *I want you.* *I want you.*
