--ONE OF US IS DRINKING FOR THE FUN, ONE OF US IS DRINKING TO GET DRUNK

As You Sleep

Waves of light

flicker behind

your eyelids like a

pulse or jagged tremor,

baking there

as you sleep,

dream-walking somewhere

no one exactly knows.

I watch a swath of

sunlight tickle

your cheek through

the fickle window,

and at once I’m jealous,

I’m actually

fucking jealous,

of the way you respond,

how you shift and

buck and flare those

recessed dimples

as if you’re being touched

where I once touched you.

Oh, god, really?

You cannot be serious.

You’ve actually made me

jealous of everything,

even the sun,

a simple sheath of it

hitting your skin.

So, for now, I’ll just

watch you,

my face pressed

against the window,

like a boy seeing

his first nude in the flesh.

I’ll suck down the drool.

I’ll cross two

sets of fingers and

hold them behind

my back like

a crippled prayer

the desperate employ,

squeezing tight,

begging for mercy,

or grace,

or anything

you might possibly

give me.