If I could (Poetry)

If I could go back I’d put
fresh heads on broken flowers
tuck butterflies in their cocoons
refill the empty hours

Unearth old secrets, dust off lies
and air the tombs love fashioned
where hopes lay buried in their kind
of too-impatient passion

I’d rinse my youth, unpick its seams
toss buttons in the river
roll near-naked in the snow
and never mind the shiver

when skin and soul expose themselves
play honest for a season
and feel no need to question if
there’s any harm or reason