BLACKBIRD - A VILLANELLE

image - dtc-wsuv.org

I might have told you, had I been less shy,

how I'd adore you till the end of time,

but words caught in my throat, and voiceless, I.

I needed words from you to get us by,

but you could promise naught, in prose or rhyme.

I might have told you, had I been less shy.

We loved in silence, my heart hid its cry.

Without the words, I acted out in mime.

The words caught in my throat, and voiceless, I.

I sought a promise. Your eyes sought the sky.

Our love was new, and needed much more time.

I might have told you, had I been less shy.

I hung on tight, you tried so hard to fly,

the mountain peaks we sought too hard a climb.

The words caught in my throat, and voiceless, I.

Blackbird, Beauty, soaring through the sky,

you live forever in this heart of mine.

I might have told you, had I been less shy,

but words caught in my throat, and voiceless, I.

A poem from last April, reposted for Real Toads' The Tuesday Platform