by candlelight

from iliac crest
to supersternal notch;

the delicate pilgrimage
of my mouth

in my dream of spirals
we meet on the stairs
at the shoulder of the world

may i? i ask as i gather you in my arms;
in our cloak of words
our filigreed cocoon of thought

here, in our dawn of skin
we shine softly

and spill from a thousand kisses

through an open window

i imagine i watch you,
walking barefoot
through the afternoon

your hem dances,
sings the rhythm of your feet,
you smile
at wonder that rushes you with small hands

you drink it in to give yourself

there is a gull-down sadness folded in your beauty

a blue tenderness in the lilt of your wrists

a lock of hair to lift from your cheek

and those brown eyes

let me curl up
inside your heart, your ears

so i may always
hear the sea

starlight

like ancient thread,

looms thoughts

in vaults behind my eyes


each night,

the first thing my pillow whispers

is you

as if pebbles underfoot
the sky sings a coarse lullaby

we sit
stubborn and thick
in the clenched pipe of time
unable to pass us

it seems strange, now,
thorns have cleared a path for us;
clouds bulge
in dark promise

oh, the envious hymnal breeze!
how it wrings its wrists
in heavy handed disbelief

a cathedral of trees
holds you and me between earth
and spangled evening

our geometries slowly converge

the unknown looks away in fear
as the pulp of our understanding
sweetens the ink of our verse
intertwined

from broken shells the bird steps
from her beak night screams
missiles of ancient light

weave the moon

.

breath of lanterns, song of sky

my kisses flock to you

--

hold me, the cloud whispered to the mountain

--

listen to me reading you

with fingertips

i will collect you in my arms
all of you

as you wish
from the merest shadow you may call me

i will leave through
the sound of a coin
on a marble step

beloved

come, lean to me,

let us be morning shadows

as the hem of night

slips from our lips

---

when sadness lives in you

you shrink inside
away from your eyes

you walk slowly
as not to rattle