i was taught to fear

            man

                  god

              my (self)motivations

and held to the standard of

    ‘yea, though i walk though

       the valley of the SHADOW of death

i shall fear no evil’



and so

i sometimes bow when i should

          stand and yet i

     believe when hope itself

        begins to tremble

i like an animal

licking its wounds

hold my attachments near

their multitudinous ****

once comforting

now a spin cycle of teeth

i a lover of harsh truths

meet a killing blow and

reach beyond for

i have lain with devils

and lived to tell

the tale

i am

the owner of

my compromise

and its sole beneficiary

they say

but i know better

i am the hundredth monkey

be full

i whisper…

for a single day my heart

beat in time with yours,

its rhythm so familiar transformed

by the sweetness of your counterpoint

into a current electric

that arced between the nearness of our bodies,

delivering us unconsumed

though indelibly marked,

with the taste of salt lingering

on our tongues.