There was sweat on my brow,
beads of them as I approached him.

I was a young man, still green.

he was a mature man
like the long blades grow free
in the lush of nature.

My hand in his
he took me
into his warmth.

Nervous, shy
you could hear
grass grow

in the quiet
of my fear

in the silence
of my lust.

I knew nothing.

As we rolled in the dew of ***
as I fumbled and groped,

in some instinctive wisdom
entrusted myself fully to him.

he  set our bodies in a fluid motion
my virginity now neatly cut.

We spent days
as I explored
the fresh sweet air
of 'us'.

It was then I became a human.

Learned
how you hold a flower
how you manicure the stem
how you water the soil
how you delicately hold the petals.

It was then I became a gardener.

A gardener
worthy
to tend a garden
so vital.

It was then I learned how to love