your breath is sweet
an amalgamation of the warmth of your throat
and berry-flavored cigarettes
i don’t know if you know this
but your lips are always curved in a little smile
as if a spectre is murmuring a joke in your ear
and i love that

your eyes crinkle endearingly when i
undress
and your corpse-cold feet caress mine under the covers
thinking you’re leeching off my warmth
but i’m really leeching off yours

how many times have i colocated my head
under your chin
and felt like i was love and life itself
and death and grief and pain
my ear presses against your chest
and whispers to your internal organs
‘take my heart’

give me nothing
but the smell of your slender neck
and the grooves of your round fingertips