How many....

How many stories of love and relief are there?
How many houses have been built?
How many lovers sleep 'neath the stars there;
'Neath the heaven's star-spangled quilt?

How many hearts have been broken?
How many kisses have been shared?
How many eyes have been opened
To the love they found there?

How many days must I wait?
How many lives will drift by?
How long must this thirst I sate?
How many lovers will slip my eye?

How many lives will I see
With a gaze and not a peer?
How many people have loved?
When will love my way steer?

How many surfaces will I stroke?
How many centres will I ignore?
How many people drift idly on?
How many people sit lonely at the shore?

How long will the Sun and Moon be separate?
When will day and night blend?
When will I bask in love's twilight?
How many days adrift will I spend?

How many words of caring will I misread?
How many kneel down and cry?
How many tongues in vain bleed?
How many lovers throw not the die?

How many people in anger spew
Words their hearts do not shape?
How many times will love renew
The hope that life abates?