"Learning to love you" [villanelle]

Am I learning to love you day by day my friend?
might I cherish you in the stillness of my heart?
is our tale of timeless love without an end?

you discovered me by strange happenstance!  we wend
an ineffable circuit   tracing part by part
am I starting to love you day by day my friend?

though my poems be vague & paltry  let me send
darkling ringlets of thought   till ringing words impart
such a tale of timeless love as knows no end

didn't Hafez intone   the heartbreak of the rend?
didn't Rumi each lambent round of longing chart?
am I growing to love you day by day my friend?

when our life meets with signs & portents  that portend
beauty's arrows let loose   like cupid's poison dart
is our tale of timeless love without an end?

in this universe   who'll say what's comin' 'round the bend?
in this dream   who sees what's the horse  & where's the cart?
if I'm learning to love you day by day my friend
could our tale of love flow on without an end?


[line 10: "the rend" = the lover]