Alabaster Vial

You are going.
You are not mine,
Gone, and I had no chance.

To tell you
To show you how
I love you,
How I long for you.

Unrequited in my aloneness,
Touched by your grace
Touched by your love and gifts
How can I show you
What you mean to me?
The love inside me is
Strong, full, and fecund
The rivers of longing
A silent and mighty flood within.

I would have scented myself
With this, for your delight,
My delight to soar in yours
As I gave myself to you
Lover, companion, wife, mother
To the progeny of kings.

I only wanted what was the nature of
My creation and my stature fair.

But you are not mine,
You belong to Another,
And to a nameless purpose I cannot
Sound, a vagueness that stifles
My breath, and my heart pounds in
Unknown fear, my lungs burn
Beneath my breast.

So I give you but this portion
The scent, and pour out the vial
Of my longing, that you not forget
The delight I have in loving you.

I will not, cannot be silent.
Know then this, my love, for all of time.