The Blossom and the Ever-Green

I've counted years in willow rings

In heather bloom and swallow's wings

My heart was kept like orchard glass

Safe from love that cannot last

Then dawn poured green through leaves above

And there you knelt in wildflower love

Dew in your eyes, warm human flame

And all my silence learned your name

Oh love, be kind, be bright, be brief

Like sunlight trembling through the leaf

If you must fade, then let it be

As petals fall from apple tree

I'll hold you not like carved in stone

I'll love you like a flower grown

You said, "Don't fear the falling bloom

It fills the soil, it scents the room"

So I let go my ancient dread

And chose the spring while it is spread

Oh love, be kind, be bright, be brief

Like sunlight trembling through the leaf

And when the winter takes its due

The spring will still remember you