Ode to my Mistress

Apr 18

Is it because
I swoon in your leaves,
Feast on your velvet,
And steep in your splendor
Like a vernal thief?

Or that time and again
I rear you from birth
Only to cut your life short.

Let me believe
That my act of grace
Brings no pain
To the one I adore,

That spring
Caresses us both
So I can lose myself in you,
My gaze, stealing you too.

Let me believe
You know
That for each petal dropped
A thousand silent poems were written,

That a radiant sun
Bows in deference
To the ethereal lifetime
My embrace helped you carve.

Let me believe
That the vase I procured for your recital
Triggered the relentless bloom
Announcing your arrival,

That each rose to follow
Will nevermore fear
The wilt of tomorrow.

That they’ll dream
Of the sonnets I sang
At your birth,
At your peak,
At your end.

Grant me permission,
Companion and muse,
To love them, house them,
And yes, even cut them

For then —and only then,
Might I dare to reappear
Knowing that you too relished
The sight of my shears.