if i loved you in another lifetime

if i had loved you in another timeline, in another century,
i would have called you my knight, and waited for you
beneath the castle windows; i would have
written your name in margins of enchanted manuscripts,
so the whole book would smell like summer when i opened it.

i would meet you beneath the chapel arch
after vespers,
where the candles make everything gold,
and the stones smell like rain. perhaps you would
give me a flower stolen from the castle gardens,
and i would keep it until it turned brown.

and when you leave for war, i will stand at the gate
with your colors tied to my wrist, and watch as
the shape of your horse gets smaller the longer
you leave me.

i would return to my quarters and pray for your
return. and when you finally came back, i'd breathe
in the smell of winter on your coat.

my knight, would you return home
to me in this lifetime?