Protocols

What can I say to you? How can I retract
All that that fool, my voice, has spoken.
Now that the facts are plain, the placid surface cracked,
The protocols of friendship broken?

I cannot walk by day as now I walk at dawn
Past the still house where you lie sleeping.
May the sun burn these footprints on the lawn
And hold you in its warmth and keeping.

- Vikram Seth

What is so special about Seth's poetry is the simple, elegant verse, the easy to relate ideas that he writes about ranging from loneliness to heartbreak, and the crisp economy of style, not to mention the strict adherence to metre. This is one of my personal favorites from All you who sleep tonight.