perhaps the most appealing part of you
is that we could never be together
never in the same room
under the pretenses between these sheets
laugh lines forming a parenthesis
becoming an unfinished sentence
embedded in your thread count

you always liked me better
when you couldn't see my face
roleplay began taking the shape
of a placeholder instead
missing what we couldn't have
taking what we could get
greedy and all-consuming lust

i wonder who else might feel the same way
when affection grows into resentment
repulsive to the tongue
forbidden love becomes bitter
when it is left to breathe over time