As Long as I Love You

Time pulses like water around us
slipping through our fingers
to the softly spoken lilt
of love songs.
I long to linger here
where the caress of
fingers tenderly stroking
the lines of an open palm,
excites emotion
a sweetness of thought
a fount of knowledge
which parts parched lips
rarely in a life time.
Were I to count the seconds
they would scurry shyly
away
scattering like june beetles
their colorful shells
engaging my dreaming eyes.
My body responds
to the delicacy of your
affection,
the subtlety of your kiss
enchants
Your winsome laughter
is sublime.
You need not speak
for the expression of your
heart is plain upon your
open face,
the wiles of your wicked beauty
as evident as
the lacquer of the azure sky at dusk.
When I am with you
there is no sense of direction
no hours
no lost moments
or seconds to spare
there is simply time
in which we will lay
intertwined in thought
and emotion
for as long as you will have me.
For as long as I will love you.

-lauren Hatch