Through time and trial, arrested apart Our consummate thoughts invariably start. For-swoon to lie within your grace At long last feeling ardent embrace. Lacking, I, your amorous charm Penchant, yours, doth does disarm. Not once hath I smoldered a funeral pyre, But steadfast up-keeping my one true desire. Lips cloistered, feign all save only your kiss. For thou which greets said lips with bliss Bereaved of smooth countenance, alight and amiss. Unite us; to lasting, to love's languishing dire! Vouchsafe my heart in noblest trust. Begone crippling fear. Relinquish you must Dark harbingers, banished by courage and poise. My shelter of arms shall shut out the noise, Cast off ill-worries and feelings misplaced. Find salient peace whilst recalling thine face. ------ This is the first of several poems that compose "Better Halves", a longer work that I've been slowly building over the last couple weeks. The title is an allusion to "A Description of Cooke-ham" by Emilia Layner. You can read it here: A Description of Cooke-ham