If You Could Love Me 'Til I Die

I could plant seeds around your feet

so the vines grow as strong as rope

tying your ankles to the ground

keeping you strapped to this plane

everlasting love until my final sigh.

Yet the dew must fall

drip

drop

until the leaves dry

evaporated by dawn

like something that leaves slowly

and its arrival reminds the time

of how fast it is racing.

And since the second-hand ticks a steady beat

and time is not promised to cease

you could only love me until the pulse ends

so instead, I will be stuck

admiring your shell

and a few tones of your voice

until I leave

and my breath calls out your name

hoping that in the shadows

somewhere

you love me just the same.

If you could love me ‘til I die

I would leave a trail for us to walk together

but because time is a thief

and because I am young

I will plod with my head low

leaving petals of lilies as I go.