If I had a lover

If I had a lover
I would want time to get to know her
Find out what stands above her
and embrace her beauty fast
I’d wish her to be patient
while together we grew ancient
and I whispered on a tangent
while I watched her beauty pass

If I had a lover

I would want to get her measure

her heart, her hands, her treasure

to belong against the sun
Lest I  find the way to wooing
that would take us to the wedding

and against the awful ringing

I would find what I had done.

And if I had a lover
I would wish her on another
to make a mother of her

With her children fit to see
There’d be a soul beyond her

and together we would bind her

To whatever stood above her

and it wouldn’t be me.