Lavinia, Lavinia, Lavinia, Howsoever Beatest Thine Heart Among the Divinities Shall Ye Be Remembered, Lavinia

I thought to buy you a trinket

to express the warmth in my heart for you.

Some small token that might find a home

next to your bed.

There were toys, lawn-gnomes

and rocking chairs

swaying in the cold April wind.

This life falls short of you

in my fleeting paradise beneath the spotlight

I remain incomplete. There is more

to my dream than was planned

I did not mean to love you

without my kingdom in place

I have no control.

Not over this grey morning

or the way the sun shines

not over my heart

which knows only your name

I found nothing to offer you but myself

and this handful of rain

tears from the Kansas City sky

symbols of a love

eternal