My fingers slowly move in circles.
My eyes fixed on the small section of shirt
That they are gently exploring,
As you ask me to describe
What sits just underneath the surface.

Soft skin,
Perfectly smooth and white,
A small circle of the palest pink.
Somehow, impossibly, even softer still,
With a textured dome perfectly centred
And just the right shade darker.

As I paint the scene with words,
You begin to respond physically,
But always continuing to speak.
I outline what I do to you,
Describing all my favourite tricks,
Knowing how much they turn you on.

Just as I start to think I’m in control,
I am humbled as the balance starts to shift.
You detail every little thing
That you know I like to do,
That I like to have done,
And precisely why I like them.

It was like nothing I had ever experienced,
The sheer intimacy
Of being so well known and understood.
Our connection from soul to soul,
Even stronger and more vivid,
Than our usual cerebral link.

There was something new under the sun,
Something I had never known existed,
And it was so fundamentally connected
To life and love and ***,
Such cornerstones of my identity.

It was the softness,
That struck me more than anything,
Being known so completely
By someone that I loved.
It made me see the stark lack of love,
That had coloured my life
Before you.

I’m proud to have wept in that moment.
I love that you held me,
Let me put on “Breathe Me”
And experience that flood of feelings.

I had never felt so loved,
Nor had a moment so intimate.
My whole life could have gone by
Never knowing those feelings existed,
But thanks to you I have
The most incomparable human experience,
Forever in my mind and heart.
For that, I am eternally grateful.

The night air was filled with fog,
And the clouds hung thick and dark
Over the stars that we had been written in,
On the day that we came back together
After three long years apart.

We wandered blindly through the darkness,
Just as we had for years beforehand,
Searching for one another,
Knowing that we both needed something,
Not yet aware of just how right we were.

Bathed in supernatural streetlight,
We finally found each other,
Along with the feeling
We didn’t even know had been missing
From our lives for so **** long.

No matter what happens,
Whether we make it through the night or not,
We will always have that moment in the light,
You will always have my heart and soul,
I am always the boy at the end of your street.

The tips of my fingers
Can’t help my continually tell me,
As my eyes can’t help but notice,
Just how luck I truly am.

Smooth as silk,
Soft as shea butter,
White as the freshest milk,
Your skin stretches before me.
My fingertips wander,
Slowly and serenely exploring
Every delicate and delightful inch
Of the most beautiful form
God has ever conceived.

My eyes cast their gaze over you,
Over every secret and sacred patch of skin
That we both know I love.

Like the line where your thigh crests;
There is the slightest crevice
Before your pelvis begins.
It’s such a sensual textural sensation,
That shifting surface of your skin.
To me, that’s how love feels.

Or the skin pulled tight
On the sides of your hips,
Your perfect cheek adding a little jiggle;
Just the right amount of volume and tension
For my hands to grab and hold,
Or shake with ownership and intention.

And, of course, that patch of skin
To the side of each breast,
Where it first meets and joins your ribs.
I’ve never felt anything else quite like it,
And if there is a heaven,
I hope it feels even half as good,
Or looks half as beautiful,
As that most holy ground
That I first dubbed “Sacred Skin”.

It is a truly rare thing to find someone
That connects with you at all,
Let alone to find a soul that is so perfect
In their ability to meet you in the cosmos,
Merge and tangle endlessly with you,
Until you are completely united in love.

Immersing ourselves in one another,
Feeling, thinking, connecting, loving,
Those are the moments that I live for.
The tangible sense that we are existing
Where everything is everything,
And we can overcome anything together.

My soul is so lucky to be loved by yours,
And so privileged to able to love in return.
Every day that we share in this lifetime,
Every second in that tantric embrace,
Feels like reaching mental paradise;
Passionate pleasure between soulmates.

When I saw you for the first time,
I didn’t even see your face.
Yet you captivated me with ease,
Perfectly still amongst the constant rush.

Wind shouldn’t be able to blow indoors,
Yet the air whirled all around you.
The blur of people passed unperturbed,
And there you stood in perfect reverie.

The swiftness with which the air rushed in
Was outstripped in an instant,
As every atom left the lobby’s atmosphere,
And my eyes fixed on you in rapt attention.

I can still picture you perfectly.
It’s not just the way your shirt is sitting,
Not just the gorgeous slight curl to your hair, Nor the grace and comfort in your stance.

It’s something so much more intangible,
It’s little bit of everything, seen and unseen.
It’s that energy that I felt, that I still feel
Every time I see you, even ten years later.

The hours without you
Are long and lonesome.
My brain starts to itch,
My heart starts to ache,
My soul starts to pine,
For you are not here with me.

The days are so long,
The nights longer still,
And I miss you,
And mourn you,
Until the very second
We return to each other.

There always seem to be days (or nights)
Where I blithely overstep
Even our fluid and flexible boundaries,
And the silence that follows is deafening.

You always knew who I was,
And that I could be what you needed,
But somehow it still takes you by surprise
When I act exactly like we said I would.

I always wanted someone
Who would call me on my *******,
Which you’ve been happy to do,
From the moment that we met.

This was always us,
Exactly what we said we needed.
So I’ll find what I’m supposed to,
And you’ll act like you’re offended.

We always work it out together.
So after we’ve both played our parts,
And we’re ready to go home together,
We can just smile, and say “Hello, You”.

My mouth can get the better of me
When my brain pops off
Without a safety catch.
The words come out malformed
And misaligned,
In spite of my true feelings and intentions.

The words of that great bard
Ed Sheehan echo in the aftermath -
“Trust and respect is what we do this for”.
And although we also share
So much more than that together,
I always regret when my love forgets
To carry those two core principles
That we worked so hard to establish.

I owe you better behaviour
Than ever forgetting that.
And although Emmanuel Kant
Does not dictate the terms of our love,
We owe each other a better love
Than I gave to you in those moments.

So here I am, and here it is -
I love you,and I’m sorry.
Despite your insistences,
I am often not perfect,
And it is important to acknowledge that,
So that I can work towards
Being perfect for you,
In the manner that we both understand.

All that I ever find myself wanting
To improve on and achieve in this life,
Is anything that will allow me
To build a better life for us,
And to be a better man,
For you and you alone.

I never thought I’d find myself praying
All these years after giving it up,
But if there is a God in this world,
Then the most beautiful gift
He has ever blessed me with
Is to be known and be loved by you.

I swear that I will fall in contrition,
Offer my words and my heart every day,
If it will bring happiness, peace, and love.
And if there is no God above,
I couldn’t be the least bit phased,
Because I would still pray to you, my love,
And have them answered every day.

I heard when I was younger
That no two fingerprints are alike,
Eight billion people on this planet,
Sporting ten fingers apiece,
Which means eighty million patterns,
All uniquely arching, looping and whirling.

I learned that feelings can taste
Different to different people,
Rarely do heartbuds like or crave the same.
Sadness to some may be sweetness to others,
Moments that kickstart my heart,
May not be what sets yours ablaze.

Now that I am older,
I know the most rich and rewarding taste
Comes from the heart that compliments,
Contrasts and contradicts your own,
Joins you in exploring new flavours,
And always relishing old favourites.

The heart, like the tongue, is a muscle.
Every time we taste the feelings of life,
We flex that muscle a little more.
When we flex our hearts together,
Rubbing our heartbuds over one another,
That muscle grows, as does our love.

The secret, I think, to a lasting love
Is flexing your hearts together in new,
Satisfying, comforting, challenging ways;
Evolving with each little bit of everything,
Always keeping love at the centre,
Remaining they are your favourite taste.

So if you find your person (like I have),
Study their heartbuds hungrily,
Learn all of their favourite tastes.
Understand them, be rich and rewarding,
So you may satisfy and be satisfied.
Give yourself entirely with love.

The word “Lover”
With all its societal connotations
Never made much sense to me,
Until I fell in love with you.

I still remember how it felt
When we watched that performance
Together;
Somehow frozen in the memory
As it was being made,
Suspended beautifully in time,
Just like the sheets of paper
That Taylor had scattered
In the wind.

I remember my heart
Pumping joyfully,
Full of life;
Blessedly and peacefully
Feeling as though I was right
Where I was supposed to be,
Because I was with you.

You can always go where I go,
We can always be that close,
And you can have every summer
That remains in our lifetime.

Like my palimpsest tattoo,
We can grow,
Or we can change,
But we will always
Truly be “lover”
To one another.

Though I can’t always
Give you fancy things,
You will always have -
My love,
                                  My heart,
My hand,
                                  My soul,
And I would still
Marry you with paper rings
In a heartbeat.

So please;
Be my lover baby,
                                  Be my soulmate
Be my best friend,
                                  Be my wife,
For this year and for all years to come.

And I will be yours
Until the world blows up,
Until the sun swallows the earth,
Until we return to stardust,
Until I find you in the next life,
And in every life beyond.

There’s a certain point in every day
When I slowly look to the right,
(and you are always on my right)
Just as the light catches your skin,
And it glistens back at me beautifully,
Like scattered stars in the night sky.

I’ve never quite understood
How your skin could simultaneously
Look as though it were white as milk,
With texture smoother than the finest silk,
And somehow glisten like Swarovski;
The most exquisite combination ever seen.

When I finally force my eyes to rise,
Without fail, yours wait to meet mine.
Your eyes, whilst forever changing,
Remain enchanting in every incarnation.
Depth and intensity utterly unmatched,
Shining like diamonds all the way down.

Truly, nothing else in this world
Could ever be so irresistibly captivating,
And nothing will ever be able to capture
My affection, my adoration, my obsession,
In the irrevocable way that you have,
Simply by existing in the way that you do.