I Want to Die While You Love Me

Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880?–1966) · 1922

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,
’Til love has nothing more to ask
And nothing more to give.