Sylvia

How presumptuous of me to imagine
that if I were of your era
perhaps slightly taller
and a poet of distinction
I could have been the one
to save you from the whirling blackness
of eternal oblivion

that I could have lifted the bell jar
snatched you from your beguiling jailer
and once safely in my arms
in a single kiss have dislodged
the strigine talons of grief
tightly clenching your heart

and that the strength of my love
alone, would have been enough
to lift your flair towards the light
coax a pen into your hand
replace the slow suffocation
with I am, I am, I am...

the joyous positive
the alpha and the omega
to reach inside those fierce flames
and rescue your genius

Sylvia Plath
(photo source and date unknown)