It Would Have Been Enough

If we had been given one more year
to watch the sunset on the far mountains,
float on our backs in salt ponds shaded
by ancient willows that protest the weight of their leaves,
and hold each other close as the seasons' cycle.
First in the lush sensual green of a damp summer,
I stare into your sunglasses
and see the blood orange rainbow of fall,
and in winter our sleigh tracks lazy curves
and the dogs complain as they sink knee-deep
and can't keep up.
It is spring and the earth explodes with flower and fruit,
And we lie in the grass dripping early juices into our mouths
to the whine of hornets that never touch us
for a force field of love protects us.
If we had been given one more year
It would have been enough.
If we had been given one more month
it would have to be July
we would watch the moon shape shift on the still surface of the pond,
and we would rise early and never sleep
for the days are so long, the sky so blue, and the earth warm and fecund.
We climb trails and the deer are amazed by our audacity,
Who are we to intrude? they wonder aloud.
Ignoring them, we climb higher until we find the blue stream whose waters
taste like honey. If we had been given one more month
It would have been enough.
If we had been given one more week,
we'd all lay in our big bed the children between us