I'd like to own you like a shiny copper penny
That I keep in my pocket;
putting my hand in to trace the outline of your face
Feeling the smooth texture
knowing always that you're there;
that you'll be there as long I keep you there.
But you are not an indelible image emblazened into copper
The way you've become etched into my being.
You are so very free.
Freer than anyone I've met
Than the leaves that blow into my yard in the fall.
You won't be held steady (this is both my joy and my suffering.)
You won't be mine
Although I have the most important parts of you;
which you give me freely whenever you sideways smile at me
Or sigh into my shoulder.
I am content to take that which you give.
To others it may seem paltry but I know that for you
it is nearly your soul.
I will not own you now or ever
But when your flitting swooping dancing skirt twirls in my direction
I wait to dance with you
Until the music plays no more
And off you go again
Off you go again.
