tu: the portuguese/spanish second pronoun is the most beautiful sound that can be made; I am convinced of it. I think that it may drive all language, that no other conjugations are necessary, and that eventually when we have lost the need to speak we will still remember that sound.

e que tu me feres: i am convinced that you will go on wounding me; the bird only you can wake has formed its own ecological niche. what it eats i do not know, and when i find where it nests and root it out i find that it lives somewhere else, too, and i cannot wage the sort of war that would wipe it out without also destroying my own favorite streets and gardens.

i am resigned to this, bird. you and i shall play our games of chess in her absence. i will teach you how to fire a gun and you will continue my spanish lessons. you may sit on my shoulder and with time in my eyes.

tu, tu, tu