Holding Lanterns

If I don't find you in another decade
I will leave my heart on my bedside table,
You are dynamite in a forest-fire,
I need to knock into you sooner than later,
or watch you burn the world without me,
No, I will leave my heart at home.

You probably hold lanterns to faces today,
drench flesh with the amber inside you
and check for starched love-letters
between a creased spine and chequered smile,
(some people hold them in their teeth)
You're learning to shake hands with them,
because the only time they will open lips
is when they read their broken to you,
These are friends that will make me jealous one day,
I want you to hurry up with the discovering;
I sweep sunsets like dust on my window,
I cannot afford the colours of pining today,
I need to prepare myself for your amber --
pluck the freedoms of men with my tongue,
stroll unvisited alleys and spill hot poetry,
work the shapes of wonder into my words,
I need to become the storybook you will read,
I know the way I need to make you laugh,
I won't paste sweetness over your wounds,
You hate it, I know,
I will kiss the bells in your eyes,
and I know how you will stare at me
when you hear yourself ring in my hall,
You will place the worn lantern on my doorstep,
I will open the window and let the colors dry;
When I tell you I have waited for you,
you will not understand how I love,
but that is precisely what you were looking for,
I have waited for you since forever,
I hold you with hands that know emptiness,
you are the only song I will allow inside.

Image Source: Charles E. Waltensperger