—WAKING UP BESIDE YOU BRINGS A SORT OF REFUGE

 

  

Sanctuary

 

we learn the gospels 

without phonics 

just lips & limbs 

& ligaments 

loose as water 

a luminescent stream 

strapped in heat

your skin crying 

Sanctuary over 

and over again

while the swallows 

outside our window applaud 

with wings tapping 

their own cryptic concerto 

only we can hear

our lungs sewn together 

with a double 

thread of purple 

a sailor’s lucky knot 

a hat trick to be had

sub bass just below 

the throbbing ventricle 

as I reach over the pillow 

and paint a sonnet 

on your tongue

signing with fingers 

and thumbs 

across your vertebrae 

that I need you

that I love you 

pleading for another 

sunlit song 

begging you to stay

right where we are