In the limelight of once covenant
Feel and touch
Drops cling to the curling of my rose
(She darkens there, in the light of you)
I recoil in the gloaming
The shine shimmies
And bursts

To the floor
Of scattered leaves
And dried red petals
The moisture will not plumpen them
Or shout any good fragrance onto the breeze

You gaslight my blue abrasions
Creating phantasm on my skin
A silhouette of features I know well
Mouth and hummmm
Low vibratory calling
A song that sings
Eons into my existence

But I await
In crouch and ready pose
(My curl has not devastated my posture she may unbend herself)
To spring forth
Out of these blue black strikes
You have laid on my courage

My keeper has become
A tree that bears fruit
I will pluck from it
And willingly be put out

My flowering held in hand
Full bodied in the wildest
Temptation met with choice
And it darkens only the red of my lip

What is left *****
Myself
For your perversions grow only
When pressed inside my shadowy illusion
(So keep it to stroke some lonely afternoon)

My eye will grow to no longer notice
Any contusion
I shed my skin and walk out of apparition

Grace and beauty shown only
In a strong light
To those who might keep their shadows for themselves