There is honour
in knowing you will lose
and still loving anyway
this is what I tell myself
I gather the pieces of hope
but I no longer bargain with fate
I simply acknowledge the truth
you were never mine
but my heart still thinks you are
I love you without demands
my soul stands guard
over the dream that you are
knowing it will never be fulfilled
but what matters is that
even unrequited
this love has shaped me
it has taught me restraint
as a form of reverence
how longing can be tender
and absence can still feel alive
so I carry you forward
like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills
even knowing I will never arrive
©Ann Bagnall
Annie's Poetry 