she comes to me,
open, wanting.

baby...please...

she sighs.
these two words,
more than the sum
of their syllables, distanced from strokes and lines;
beyond mere utterances; desire.

words whispered
in sacred prayer.
this offering up
of all that she is.

and i go to her

heed her calling,
for she is home to me.
every beat of my heart
echoes her name.

she is a promise, kept time and again.
whispers of salvation; this sacredness,
begging to be worshiped.

what have i done to deserve this grace?

there are no gods greater; her skin,
silk beneath my fingertips,
burns away my sins.

i bend my head at this alter.

her curves are highways
leading me forward.

i close my eyes in worship.

raise up thanks,
soul deep in her temple;
absolved.

she opens to me; sighs.
breath balanced on bread,
her holy sacrament
tastes on my tongue.

i inhale her incense,
the scent penetrating my hands,
as time stands still.

she is all i ever want to know,
nothing before, no one after.
i have found my deliverance within the contours of her mouth.

and i trace, in reverance,
line to form; memorizing
every inch offered to me.
she becomes imprinted
within my core.

i tremble at her trembling.

then
i shatter.

i want to offer up to her
something akin
to the gifts
she has bestowed on me.

i open my mouth but words have fled.

instead,
i lay upon her
calla lilies,
tumbled from my tongue.

ribcage opened;
in my most vulnerable state.
i lay exposed,
stripped naked of this skin i inhabit.
i am but muscle and sinew; tendons,
taut cover bone.

these four syllables; expelled breath
baby.....please....
strip away the excess,
leaving only noisy bones.

to her, i give all that i am.
hang hands high
in ancient trees,
the frame of my being,
surrounded by elysian fields.