I looked for you
as my eyes squinted into fog
I saw your luminescence
a beacon lighting way forward
unwittingly becoming life raft
I tried not to cling to the wreckage
but swim deeply through water unafraid
did it matter what direction or where
I would end up?
without you there is a drowned map of the world
made of hide and slick with oil
if you look carefully you can see the outline
of where you drew your location
like a red circle with closed eyes I can
feel the pulse
drawing us ever closer and ever apart
a wave upon wave in an ocean of sadness
there was a time when I believed
we were separated only by
our will
and if we so desired
nothing could really keep us separate
a chain of silver running through water
linking us irrevocably
it helped to feel less alone with you at the end of myself
as if we were bound and raffiaed like Viennese masks
waiting for wearing to bring them alive
you possessed the key to my firmament
you lit beneath my intransigence a fire
through your eyes I was alive
my skin burning for your touch
driving fast down empty roads
your fingers playing splendor beneath my skirts
the bruise of hours
ellipsing sense
you my patchouli girl
rendering me senseless with your unexpected strength
painting our together with shades of unfolding passion
as if we were Bedouin and all we have is the tent of us and our journey
deeper into the delta of the other
where secret streams convey a woman’s urge
wordless and spoken
lying beneath the way to heaven