When that beautiful smile
lands on your radiant face
When my uncertain hands
find the curve of your waist
When our curious tongues
fill the in-between space

      These are the things
       that make my heart race

Those soft loving fingers
as they trace poems on my chest
Those enrapturing eyes
how they leave me refreshed
Those bountiful lips
and their quiet caress

       All the ways you amaze me
       I may never express

they
say when
it rains, it pours
yet these streets look
pretty dry to me. is this a
mask? or is this really me i see?

We're on a train
in London's subways
and everyone stands
with a dead-eye peer
down the carriage, so
please, hold my hand.

They're all like apes,
hung on bamboo poles
and strung vine-straps,
hunkered over the small
space I have to myself, so
please, hold my hand.

I think you've become
just like them, Daddy;
a ringed-eyed orangutan
or narrow-staring lemur.
You've become much less
human it scares me, so
*please, let go of my hand.

As the darkness outside invades the room,
And the duvet is pulled round our shoulders
I'll push myself into your back
To reassure you of how I'm feeling.
I'll sweat through the night
With your small body fitting
Like a square peg in a round hole
Next to mine.