Sanctuary Poem by David Lewis Paget

If I had time to think
I think
That you and you
Would loom immensely
At this dream;
This wrecked and wracked wrong-headed,
Foot-sliding, step-staggering brink;

This theme.

If I had time, and time
Took time for me,
I'd turn back twenty years
Of pain and doubt,
Undoubtedly;
And make my major moves
Before the long regret
In deep and tardy shifts
Left love, each one, one by one
In limbo - stranded yet.

And if I had you still, despite
My instability
Who loved me, as you love only;
Intense and bent to still my battered sanctuary;
At greener hills beyond my brink,

Then...would I lose you still,
When life's inept insanity
Tugged at my coat
And bid me - drink?

9 March 1989