1

For a thousand years
               I've loved you ...

I've strung the pearls of patience
and watched giraffes at the zoo -
and I've loved you.
I've lain with my head
                on your chest,
atop a cliff where,
like fat lizards,
we soaked up sun
                against each other,
and I loved you.

I've watched the beggar night
steal across the city,
creep in through windows
and slip across housetops,
watched it come
with its velvet bag
of peppermint stars,
tossing them against the sky,
waiting for the
                gray coins of dawn -
and I've loved you.


II

I've watched you in a crowd
standing alone
with your eyes away from me,
and my hand ached to reach out,
to touch the familiar places
they know so well ...
and they loved you
separate from all my other
kinds of loving ...

I've held my breath
against the curiosity
of your palm,
not wanting to frighten away
the tenderness of your touch ...
watched your gentle lovemaking,
love-taking,
held it cautiously,
fleetingly,
daring not to ask
if you have ever
loved me, too ...

Copyright Esther Luttrell - 2010
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