To think that you have walked this path,

in dreams that we left behind for sleepier days…

to think that you once loved in silence,

counting the threads of an armor I had abandoned…

I will not bear the rumor of the tongue

that would bring down your defense…

but needless let me say to you

I have loved with growing sorrow.

Tomorrow will the ground be thick with ice,

tomorrow will gossip swell their mouths

with stories more untrue than Satan’s goodness…

yet today I will watch your graceful fingers curl

around the stem of my waist,

today I will remember that we were lovers once,

though tomorrow you will know that I

have done you wrong

in no intentioned way.

Today, let me borrow love’s wings…

tomorrow, let me rest on the sword of conscience.

091999