the glory of this perfect day

I want to die while you love me,
While yet you hold me fair,
While laughter lies upon my lips
And lights are in my hair.

I want to die while you love me,
And bear to that still bed,
Your kisses turbulent, unspent
To warm me when I’m dead.

I want to die while you love me
Oh, who would care to live
Till love has nothing more to ask
And nothing more to give?

I want to die while you love me
And never, never see
The glory of this perfect day
Grow dim or cease to be!

[Georgia Douglas Johnson {1880-1966} 'I Want to Die While You Love Me', from First Loves: Poets Introduce the Essential Poems that Captivated & Inspired Them; Carmela Ciuraru, ed.]