Greensleeves

I would bring you all the treasure
of a thousand strange ports
from infinite worlds, from infinite gates

I’d write you any letter
trying always to carve out of myself
in oxblood ink, in mossgreen ink
the thunderous love of my heart.

If our paths ever cross,
would you see in me what waits?
Would you tell me?

The first time you see me, I hope
I am wearing a velvet dress, a silk dress.
Let our eyes lift up as if we alone
have heard something far away,
let our eyes lift up and meet as if by destiny.
In a softly lit room,
let us meet for the first time.
In your velvet dress, your silk dress,
I will fall in love with you.
In some other life, past or future,
I must have turned away from you at such a moment.
In this life I will make no such mistake.

What pathways exist in my veins lead to you.
Greensleeves was all my joy—
And the cold north wind tells me the news of your life.
I uncover in every story and in every song
a memento of your passage there in the bright world.

But I seem to chase you from one lifetime to the next—
I have dreamed a hundred thousand futures for you,
and I am not in any one of them.