Now, Now

Gently, I touch your face, inhale your smile,
Kiss you intently, now open my eyes
To greet a perfect world. I realize,
Just as you do, this is the common style:
I love like anyone. I have no guile,
No dissonant feelings, just love, outsize
And hopeful. Sometimes it’s a great surprise,
This cage that I’ve been held in for some while.

I fear nothing, not empty arms, not loss,
Because I have no future, just the sense
That this is more than I’ve earned. Present tense
Is all that I can manage now; I cross
Each burning bridge, the past becoming dross.
Now, now, only now, is my recompense.