Some secrets I push down-
Let them drift away
Through the passing of the times,
Until those moments are lost
In the ether of neglect and distractions,
Their importance forgotten, dissolving
They become but brief muted images,
The ghosts of curling photographs
That rudely interrupt a placid dream
Or an old song-
Full of nostalgia,
But lacking context,
Have lost their meaning.

But some secrets I have stolen away-
Shielding them fiercely from the brutal inelegance
Of the grinding everyday-
Guarding them in their amber vaults,
Whose sentries, ever vigilant
Are immune to the erosion of years.

Those secrets-

The taste of your lips,
The curve of your throat,
The sigh of your voice,
The caress of your hands,

They continue to sing,
Vibrant and living,
In the space between.

These are the secrets I covet-
And I hang them like precious stars
In the night sky
-crystalline constellations,
Beacons that guide me to you-
Through my darkest of hours,
When I succumb to sleep
And close my eyes
And you are not with me.

In my lover’s eyes
Burn my hopes, hide my fears-
dreams with candles that light
My way through this autumnal glade-
Of yellows and browns and greens
seeking her touch

On my lover’s lips
Rest my prayers-
For twilight to descend,
For one simple word from her
To bring about my ascent
Into the still of this spring night,
To bleed into the colors of
her sky

In my lover’s ears
I whisper my desire
To get lost in her,
To be lost to time and memory-
To wrap myself around her,
To fall for her soft breath
As she shares my bed tonight

We all want a woman who's wild and free
She's always naked when she comes to me
She burns bridges turns back and laughs
She done set fire to all my photographs

Cigarettes, papers, and empty cans
whiskey bottles, ******* mirrors, yeah she can
It's nights like these where sinners sin
But man she knows how to make it feel right again

She'll be shoutin' and she'll be screamin'
Making no sense or meanin'
She brings me sunflowers and a place to be
The spirit of a drunk and she holds the key

Some waded up dollars and a case of broken dreams
I said, "Baby, We ain't makin' it to heaven it seems
But I know for sure they'll be sorry in hell
Let's get one last trip before the bell

All my life I've waited for someone this true
I close my eyes and feel it brings me back to you

We all want a woman who's wild and free
She's always naked when she comes to me
She burns bridges turns back and laughs
She done set fire to all my photographs

She'll be shoutin' and she'll be screamin'
Making no sense or meanin'
She brings me sunflowers and a place to be
The spirit of a drunk and she holds the key

It is a temptation,
isn't it?

We sit and we wonder
volatile thoughts
flowing through tumultuous minds.

It is a temptation,
isn't it?

Her rib cage splayed
and knees felled away
from each other,
she lay as a refuge,
an invitation:

Climb in, stretch my skin
over yours—
it's warm and dark inside,
you need not come out
until you are ready.