though this might take me a little time

I will always be grateful to my dearly beloved Auden for being so prolific that I will never, ever run out of poems to post. This one was requested, and it is a forever favorite.

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

—W. H. Auden (1907-1973), "The More Loving One," from Homage to Clio, 1960.