How could I keep what was not asked for yet?
How should I know my arms (parentheses)
In circling you unquestionably had to meet
Your questions, probing my vanished mysteries?
And that your tongue would sentence me to death
Before I drew my second first loving breath?
Before I drew my second first loving breath,
Before the first, I gave (if it occurred
That someone whined for wildness—all my wealth)
My mouth, but, waiting, never gave my word.
Now stilled by your reproach I offer tears:
Speechless, my pleading’s with the uncome years.
Speechless, my pleading’s with the uncome years,
Time in which to shape a new perfection.
What if I threw away some childish fears
And took upon myself a wise dejection?
I would give freely now, though dumb with debt.
How could I keep what was not asked for yet?