Derek Walcott

Better to lie, to swear some decent pledge,
To resurrect the buried heart again;
To twirl a glass and smile, as in pain,
At a small table by the water's edge.
"Yes, this is best, things might have grown much worse."

em The Poetry of Derek Walcott: 1948-2013, selected by Glyn Maxwell, Londres: Faber & Faber, 2014, p. 44.