by Karen Helene Orme

 

If love would give me wings
I'd fly to you tonight;
I'd gently lie beside you
take pleasure in your sight.
As your eyes melt my heart,
I'd think of long ago
when love was just a stranger
we now have come to know.
I'd kiss your tender lips
and softly speak your name
then revel in the joy
of loving you again.
When the dawn would come 
to end our lovers spree,
I'd sadly pay the price
knowing hearts cannot be free.
On love's wings I would fly.
On love's wings, lie by your side.
Tears would fade- for love denied.
Hearts that hungered would be satisfied.
So please, love, 
...GIVE ME WINGS.

I used to be completely cruel and heartless,
Using girls, then tossing them aside.
I used to feel an angry, bitter hunger,
Not knowing why, nor looking much inside.

I used to think the goal of life was pleasure:
My own, of course, whatever that might take.
A woman's feelings had to be her problem.
Self-sacrifice was always a mistake.

And so, with just the slightest twinge of conscience,
I hunted for my lonely ecstasy;
And even when I wanted a companion,
The only one I cared about was me.

We make our worlds, like God, in our own image:
Mine was a metropolis of stone
In which all souls were either fools or cynics,
Doomed to take their pleasure on their own.

And then I fell in love with you, and somehow
Your happiness meant more to me than mine.
The desert became green and lush with flowers,
And like a sun my heart began to shine.

And like a wind I swept across the ocean,
And like a star exploded into night,
And like a song I held love in my hands,
And like an angel knew that this was right.

All that I had thought was proven wrong,
All the lies to justify my greed.
To love was to embrace the pith of life,
To feel a joy far stronger than a need.

And if I could so love, I could be loved,
Could think someone might want me and believe it,
Could let another know me without shame,
Could give my self and know I could retrieve it.

All this I tell you that I might be known,
That all of me no longer be alone;
And if you do not love the one I am,
So be it. I will weep, but understand.