Possession

"No one worth possessing can be quite possessed."
-Sara Teasdale

Possession

I wanted to possess you.
Not to bed you, but to have the
liberty of you, to kiss and caress you
like a pet, like a baby doll.

I wanted to possess your time,
to command your attention,
to possess your heart, to render you
all languishing sighs and wishing for the moon.

J'ai désiré une affaire triste.

I wanted to possess your thoughts,
as though your thinking of me
could make me more present in the world.
I wanted to possess your happiness.

But I do not hold your happiness.
And I must let you go, for
no one may possess another.

I must let you go, for
my desire for possession has been
a slow caustic working in the dark
corroding a stone footing to rubble.

And time will show whether love --
wild, unseeded, volunteer love --
can take hold and flower
in the ruin I have made.

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