shall i love you....?

shall i love you
as i love the touch
of your fingers and
the smell of your skin
in coffee and tobacco?
the sweat trickles
down your brow
and it meanders past
the rough nape
and merges swiftly
in the shadow we form
together in its mediocrity.
shall i love you as the
nightingale loved the rose,
the rose loved the prince?
and the prince loved
the sunset always.
shall i love you sweat by sweat
breath by breath? and then
with the tiny prick of the thorn
and the tinier drop of blood
like a purple sunset--
shall i love you like a twilight?
ever now and never then
and shroud you in my
momentary brilliance?