A Song by Joseph Brodsky I wish you were here

Poet laureate and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky recites a poem. From The United States of Poetry episode Love and Copyright Washington Square Arts, 1995. I wish you were here, dear, I wish you were here. I wish you sat on the sofa and I sat near. The handkerchief could be yours, the tear could be mine, chin bound. Though it could be, of course, the other way around. I wish you were here, dear, I wish you were here. I wish we were in my car, and you d shift the gear. We d find ourselves elsewhere, on an unknown shore. Or else we d repair to where we ve been before. I wish you were here, dear, I wish you were here. I wish I knew no astronomy when stars appear, when the moon skims the water that sighs and shifts in its slumber. I wish it were still a quarter to dial your number. I wish you were here, dear, in this hemisphere, as I sit on the porch sipping a beer.