Love Story

Hold sadly under the palm of my hand

a moment longer -

let’s each cast another

seventy feet of spell

to stay in love. Thank me

for our unlipped kiss,

for letting my shadow

fall across you;

this snapped daffodil

I fetched from your garden

you can place in your own mouth.

Keep your sleeping flesh in hunger -

your dugong’s dream of perspiration. 

I might unbutton that dream today,

anoint you, pour gasoline

into your dry throat,

seed wild flowers between your lips

and loosened breath.

Hold nothing else with your dominant hand.

Let a reptile climb across your belly.

I could peel this planet Earth for you,

push my thumb between its segments,

rebuild you out of my ribs

and the cloying, fattened air.

All I ask is everything you have left,

to lie in unwatered darkness

waiting for my wasted breath -

to shake your dull body each time

to the cry of my name.

In between events,

I have fastened a silver chain

around your two thumbs.

Love me and I’ll lead you back

to where you started.