PETALS

Oh we have known each other very well
Both in this lifetime and in another.
Was it so long ago that we kissed and embraced?
Which lifetime was that?
Thousands of years in the past
Or only days?
I remember the days
Blossoming with vibrant life
Like petals on a rose.
Filling my heart with their sweetness,
You - filling up my senses
Making me feel ... things beyond ecstacy.
Was I a king?
Or was I a man whom you made to feel like a king?
When you took me to yourself
I also blossomed
Like those petals
Of that rose.
We tried to hold back time ... you and I - together.
We knew that we could not.
And we said, each to the other,
Let us watch the petals of our rose - together
Let us be the petals of our rose - together.
So I held you,
Felt you hold me,
Felt laughter - tears,
Your kiss - your giving - your loving
ME!
Whether years or days ago, I know not.
I only know,
We saw the petals reach their fullness
As we - reached the fullness of our loving!
Saw those petals begin to wilt,
Oh G-d!
We tried - so desparately
To concentrate all the years we might have had
To consecrate all the days we had had - oh blessed days!
Before the first fall
Of the petals of our rose.
In the end, we knew that roses do not last forever.
In the end, we smiled at one another.
In the end, we thanked our G-d
For what we had.
Far more than others have - in a lifetime.
Oh Grace!
You are no fantasy to me.
Can this poor king
Tell you of his eternal gratitude
For that?
In my mind and in my heart,
As in your own,
Our rose blossoms forever,
Its petals fresh, and filled with life,
And with the love we share with one another.
I close my eyes
And you are in my arms forever.