It resides where the heart raves
Where the pulse pauses
The blood thickens
And the cadence of one's breath
Beckons

Getting *****  
Never felt so divine
So luminous -
We bend the knee
To drink from this fountain

It dwells where fashion has foreclosed
Radiant as a sapphire
Moments like this shine
Like grace under pressure
They inspire youthful laughter -
In the construct of all liabilities

I am haunted by how few know
That intimacy lies beyond the boundary
Of secrecy
Housed in the hills of vulnerability

When one loves
One is remade anew

_________

It's the echo of laughter in the morning -
Where shadows yield to soft whispers
Which only the heart can hear

The canvas that is your naked back
Is my sunrise
In this fleeting moment I am a song
A rhythm
A kiss
Both spectator and participant

Pleasure has its own burn
Like the heartbeat flicker of a candle
It leaves its mark

The dance of light -
Sleep

The dark

____

The morning is tender
& the world begins anew
Our bodies heavy with the residue of intimacy
Awaken with a delicate touch

We share laughter
We whisper
I bite your back -
Scatter kisses
Around your body
Like the first mist of rain after a long drought
Tracing your limbs -
To the rhythm of our breathing
Closing in on a cadence
Renewed by heartbeats converging
Deeper than any flower can hide

This moment is our interlude
Our sanctuary
Our echo of bliss
Kindling the start of a new day

________

The dim fragility of grace
Begins between voice & lips
Swallowing the distance between us -
We push back the walls of shadow
With a whisper
Tangled in the romance of hope
Which burns at the edge of sleep

Our future, with no voice of its own
Is sent to us as a gift
It undresses us
Passes thru
Like an internal wind
and like the lilac
We bend

__

I heard it in the wind
To leave
And leave again

My mother
Vanished into a blackbird
Her song
Shattered
Her frailty on display

My arms turned to branches
But she did not land

She wasn't mine
She was never mine

Her answers
Mounted the wind beyond her wing-tips
The sky is wounded
Her daughters
Briefly turned to doves
To see her off

Now she is a deflowered figurine
Capsized & silent
A ornamental memory
An iridescent spark
In the pocket of my heart

___________

Our aquaintance is the canopy
Which spills across like romance -
There is no need to explain

We interrupt calamity  
We dot the beach with hands clapsed
To keep all things luminous

Anticipation is the chocolate
The interval that pivots to point
The way
There is white icing between our words
Motion between our whispers
A butterfly kiss on the spine

The gift of idle evenings
Gives way to the flowers
That bow their heads
As we honor your birthday

No one rehearses getting older
Let's laugh & grow younger instead