AS IF Poem by Maxine Chernoff

if loved- could change the weather, could send- if loved- aspen through rooftops and make rain, could if loved make shiny petals spin, could if loved, change matter to attention. Plants blink and stars send energy toward the lonely billions, who, if loved, love as no others, love as themselves in patterns of tongue and lips, if loved send roots, send arms, send the tumbling grace of notes, if loved send grasses from brackish water toward salty air, send, if loved, attention, send, if loved the brassy strings of noble firs and the harmonies of roots maintaining ground: if loved, all possible gatherings spring from the eye, the hand, the blessed words of vapor and truth. If loved, the hummingbird asks the flower the hour of closing, not a grief but if loved a testing, a grace note.