Now

Out of your whole life give but a moment! 
All of your life that has gone before, 
All to come after it, -- so you ignore, 
So you make perfect the present, -- condense, 
In a rapture of rage, for perfection's endowment, 
Thought and feeling and soul and sense -- 
Merged in a moment which give me at last 
You around me for once, you beneath me, above me -- 
Me -- sure that despite of time future, time past, -- 
This tick of your life-time's one moment you love me! 
How long such suspension may linger? Ah, Sweet -- 
The moment eternal -- just that and no more -- 
When ecstasy's utmost we clutch at the core 
While cheeks burn, arms open, eyes shut and lips meet!

Robert Browning (1812-1889)