If You Were Mine (and other lies)

by Joneve McCormick

You left me in the early hours

not waiting for the pale yellow

of a flower

or leafy trees to shine,

fleeing to softer lights

before the sun

could touch my arms.

Traitor, you are,
yet I love your heavy-lidded eyes;
I would shield you, were you mine.
You would not need to be

a faithful lover as you think.

Together we would swim
through purple-flowered seas
and wild beams of the moon
until the start of time
If you were mine.