What I Knew Poem by Tennessee West

I loved you before I knew you
Foolishly so

Before the broken glasses and the time spent alone
Before the breaks of the work at hand
With leftover sandwiches and orange peels
I loved you still

And after the tossing of old newspapers
And the turning of the clocks
The mid-August heat
The late December frost

I could never keep you
That much I did not know

But I knew that when I loved you
I wouldn't let you go