A Song For You, Etta Poem by STANLEY PACION

You are not mine to keep.

I may never possess you.
I just wish to take care of you for a while.

You have lived for years and years.
Yet your life, you, you seem to have awaited me,
I wonder the truth, could it be,
Had some sweet fortune intervened
And destined us to share a story,
A book composed along these self-same lines.

Have we a tale which sat out time?
What insistence had me copy words from its pages,
That I might make them known,
And have world to hear and then to see
How I feel as I read them for you?

And within this moment, our time and place,
Think on it. The breath of it, its immensity, a bit count,
It surpasses the number of the sands upon the earth.

Tools lay ready for me, that within my grasp
The instant reference to books and words,
To every kind of journal, to bins and bins of photos,
And into virtual flat drawers with all the world's maps,
Billions of libraries whose reading-room lights
Pave a milky way across heaven.

Spheres within spheres of information, now and eternal,
A noosphere of electronic storage, at my command,
That utterance may be given unto me, and I have channel
That I may open my mouth boldly, I have voice.

Truly, the wonder of it, this love,
The remembrance of things past, between us,
The foretold promise of happy future - laid before us,
The mystery of this love, this love.

Up and down the country roads,
Along this great ol’ city’s streets,
You have had some tears and smiles,
And your plenty share of dreams and wish come true.

Yearnings never go out of style.

Do you ever cry when you‘re alone
When I am not by your side?

Do you silently wait for me?

Sometimes a panic disturbs me.
I wonder how so much in common,
The lovely child of our affection, such hope and promise,
Its beauty abandoned, left to the luck of the roadside.
I must trust in God and believe that He may direct
Kindness from a stranger, someone to hold us once more.

I know you have had lucky breaks,
Found fair quota of goodly things.
You can not be blamed.
Sure many were my mistakes.
You have lived your life putting on a happy face,
And as some queen who rules an ancient land,
You have practiced the pose, learned
A stiff upper lip when presented with adversity.

I write this song so you might know,
Should you happen upon trouble,
Fall into times of fear and woe, or nightmare,
When past demons beset you,
If one day you loose your course,
Fail to find comfort
Or want resolution to clear a wrong,
You have this verse, my love for you,
And yet, even now so late in the day,
I cling to the expectation that you recall the hours,
I sat behind the wheel, and delivered you safely home.

You are not mine to keep.
I just take care of you for a while.

You have lived for years and years.
Yet your life, you, you seem to have awaited me,
I wonder the truth, could it be,
Had a sweet fortune intervened
And destined us to share a story,
A book composed along these self-same lines.