Do you remember?
We barely knew each other
yet called it knowing, love even.
It felt like flirting, you paused
between words to see my thoughts.
As lovers do, we sought immortality,
peeled back layers , slipped down through
skin and bone, nerves and secrets,
shaped curves out of straight ideas
until the world took on new heat.
Your vanilla scent posed a challenge.
Numerous times my interest hardened
only to wane in the cool dawn air.
We were brave then,
abandoned many old houses
where we had felt safe.
You invented new materials
and I constructed new walls.
Sometimes we drank too much,
so the room awoke from its dormancy
travelled unexpected paths out beyond
ourselves to the plains of Africa,
or the icy water in mountain streams.
We would swim naked, without desire.
Othertimes, I fancied myself a willing fish
dangling from your hook until you eased
me back into the flow with a smile.
We promised
not to tame the unknown.
We lied,
but not knowingly.
We talk now too. Don't we?
Even if sometimes our voices
slip anchor, shrill as gulls,
yet soon enough we realise
we still have no answers, nor want to.
You rest your head on my shoulder,
so assured and assuring I Forget
the questions and remember
we used to have to talk all night.
