Obsession

When time at last unbinds the seams of life that fates have sewn,
What earthen-bodied vision shall your final gaze be shown?
To cast my eyes upon the stars, upon the skylight hill
To me would be a precious waste of time that I should will
To use to mark inside my skull and find forevermore
Engraved in bone an image hewn to forms that I have mourned.

As senses fail, your mind shall die, what scent shall be your last?
To breathe in pine or smoke or fruit or thyme or candle-wax
To me would be to squander breaths that never draw again,
For I would rather smell the sugar sweet that coats your skin.

As time deploys its lethal jaws that tear apart the strings,
The touch that I would wish to make the most of all earth's things
Is warm and soft and in this life what I desire most
Is your embrace in summer as we hold each other close.

As hearing's chambers fail to sound, I'd place a last request,
For I'd be blessèd not to hear a symphony in death,
Not violins, nor crickets, nor the calls of wolves or birds,
A single voice that sends me peace in utt'rance of a word.

For I have waited all my life ensuring you to be
The final sound, the final breath, the final sight I see.

My name alone you speak and now I smiling decease.