Once After Pushkin

I loved you once. D’you hear a small ‘I love you’
Each time we’re forced to meet? Don’t groan, don’t hide!
A damaged tree can live without a bud:
No one need break the branches and uncover
The green that should have danced, dying inside.
I loved you, knowing I’d never be your lover.
And now? I wish you summers of leaf-shine
And leaf-shade, and a face in dreams above you,
As tender and as innocent as mine.