Pause, My Love, and Kiss Me

Why didn’t I pause you,

on the way out of the wood…?

I could have paused you.

Why didn’t I kiss you,

on the graveled over path…?

I could have asked you to kiss me.

There is not sufficient time,

In the span of human life…

Not enough time to show you

My love for you and then to

Fill you and receive from you…

We know not what lies around the bend.

I did not know, but I sensed

and I should have paused you…

I should have stopped you.

Said David, wait, won’t you kiss me

Again, and again, don’t stop…

What if this is our last time?

I thought it was only fear, only

because that morning had been death…

I thought I was making it up.

How can we know a premonition

in the moment, know it means…

Means a sense of what is to come?

I sensed, I felt, I dreaded,

and yet, I was so filled, so full of hope…

I was re-secured in your love for me.

If you love me, what could separate?

We must be secure, I thought…

Nothing can separate.

Is love enough? It endures,

Paul says; it perseveres…

We did not persevere.

But in that moment, I could have -

I still had permission - to love you…

To pour out through my reception.

A garden locked, a fountain sealed,

And Christ beating back with a stick…

He beat you back, with a stick.

He said, “This garden shall be entered

by none but my man whom I have prepared…

Can you claim you are prepared?”

I was ready, but you were not.

Christ broke us, and made us part…

I was ready, but you were not.

And so I have but one regret,

even as I live on hope…

Hope for when you are prepared;

Regret that I did not pause in my step,

and leaning my head against your chest…

Ask you to kiss me, again and again.