IF YOU TELL ME TO COME

If you tell me to come, I'll leave everything...
And not even look back at my beloved.
But say it brusquely, so that like reveille,
Your voice will pierce my soul's most intimate redoubt,
Raise it from the mud, and wound it like a sword.
If you tell me to come, I'll leave everything...
Arriving at your sanctuary, an old man,
I will compensate you for my lateness
By spreading my essence, Oh Christ! before your altar,
Like the soft perfume of the tube rose.