A Moment Misspent

If you ask me
(You didn't)
I'd say you're as beautiful
As you've ever been
(Stop shaking your head)
And if you listen
(Put down that magazine
That you're not reading)
Maybe you'd hear
Why I keep coming back
To this sentence
(Don't pretend you expected
Any different)
I'd say we've made waves
(Tidal, even)
I'd say we've let go
But I still know
Every crease in your hand
(Without looking now,
Smart ass)

If you asked me
(You did)
Why things are different
I might've said we'd been in motion
(No, I didn't miss that)
And if you had  listened
(Look in my eyes
Really, I mean it)
Maybe you'd have understood then
Why the wind kept changing
Directions
(Don't contend it had anything
To do with the environment)
I might've said we'd braved fate
(Conquered it, even)
I might've said we were right here
Right then, and no place
Less than that
(There are worse fates
Than death)

If you asked me
(I wish you had)
I'd have taken it back
And never have lost it
(Sorry I said it to begin with)
And if you had listened
(I swear to God
I didn't even halfway mean it)
Maybe you would've started to believe
That love doesn't leave, even when
It's hidden
(That hand, that was tapping nervously
I'd like to hold it now)
I'd say it still exists
(Flourishes even)
I'd have said that in that moment
We'd nowhere else we needed
To be
(I wouldn't have gone then
Anyways)

But you didn't ask me
(I was waiting for you to cool down)
I'd have apologized first
And never lost this
(Sorry I never insisted)
You can't listen
(I hope the guy who ran you off the road
Knows he killed us both that instant)
Maybe you'd still be here
And you'd wipe my tears away
With those perfect hands
(How selfish that now
I wish I had died instead)
I'd have held you in my arms
(No matter how angry it made you)
I'd have kept you closer than I did then
And you never would have left and
You'd still be here
(I never should have let you go
But, I did)