Love, so soon!

Oh heart, have you the breath to give?
Remember life and all its fortunes, passed.
Time demands a better craft than I,
and I -- a stronger heart to last.

And love -- so soon? How far you've traveled
to meet me! your weary presence proves
your swiftest flight -- and now, new hope
to greet me upon this unending night.

But safer, still, to sleep and dream again,
and love you as only pure love's ideal;
for any face can wear the lover's mask
'til the face is gone, and the mask is real.

Hope comes too soon, with my heart yet asleep--
to love a mask is still no love to keep.

Poem On Campus -- 5:24pm

5:24pm and
I am a piece of hallway.

It is a flat, unbroken mile.
There are footsteps
but these walkways are empty

Here are my numbers:
I am 5:26pm late
and .15 away from perfect
and still waiting
(for her, no doubt; is she coming?)
I know they are all gone for the day
but these walls still walk
and I listen

I could travel that hallway
(did she?)
it's a long, white column
waxed floors
and the same elevators
(she goes there again and again, dammit, again)
Who knows –
she's vanished and I am
sure as hell
5:28pm
still waiting
wondering how nothing
can be nothing
and be nothing

the doors are closed.

I cry future
like fire
but know that I am really
now, like those damned white floors
and nothing, like no thing,
like the dark corner of a room
I stand there
5:32pm, still speaking
but these walls are just words
and she's gone.