I Still

In leaving you, I turned away from passion
So that my conscience still might spare my heart.
Though paradise has never been my fashion,
I cannot stand your pain now we're apart.
Love does not leave when it is bid farewell,
Looking back to wave one last goodbye.
Love stays, though vow and circumstance compel
One to ignore its unrepentant cry.
Vases hold the loveliest of flowers
Even as they open, bloom, and fade;
You and I must hold our sweetest hours,
Of hope and need and fierce, fierce pleasure made,
Until they vanish in the darkening shade.