Blank Villanelle

for Patricia

As long as you want

almost never is

as long as you want,

or it is much longer.

He will not live

as long as you want,

but his forgetfulness

will last as long as memory,

as long as you. Want,

at once desire and privation,

is the work of his disease.

As long as you want

him, you return to watch hours

unravel. Are they hard as yours,

as long? As you want

to let go of the ghost,

you say “but I’ll stay

as long as you want,

as long as you want.”