The Shadows between These Bodies

So many years I have wandered, searching the night for your heart,

Touching the rough roots of souls, feeling sharp thorns of hearts,

I searched not knowing your name, only feeling your touch,

Hearing your voice in my ears, your taste on my lips, in my mouth,

I did not know where or when, only your heart against my palm,

Your footsteps in the leaves and mud, your hands in the darkness,

From so far and so many places I searched for you,

Though red and painted desserts, and oceans of flowing grass,

Along grey, granite walls of mountains and in the crashing waves of sea,

I wandered and searched and now I have found you in the darkness, in the night,

So let us together make again the song of red fire between us,

Fan and dance these flames with hot breath upon the neck,

Take these two of our hearts, joined within these bodies,

Press and merge and infuse with the desperate light and heat,

We will melt the snow of darkness, dissolve the ice of night,

Little beams of sunlight dripping down the edges of shadows,

We will burn up the night between us like dry kindling,

Scorch the burning darkness within our embraces,

Until the grey ashes of morning drift through the shining air,

Until the yellow fire of sunshine comes to perch upon the window sill,

Let us destroy the spaces between our lips, banish the shadows between these bodies,

Devour to perfection the distances between us in every part,

And consume every piece of time and air and light that estrange us,

I will live this love in you within each perfect embrace,

And drive the little distances from us as wind before a storm,

There is no space between the sky and branches of trees,

Or any gulf dividing roots to the darkness of earth,

Grasp and clutch me, Love, pull our bodies into these hearts,

Become sleek and wet, washed and immersed in our connection,

As the earth is wet as the rain connects upon the grass,

We will complete us as the waves complete the shore,

And put an end to every last emptiness, every separation,

Until as you look I see, until I breath and your breasts rise and fall,

One heart, one body, one breath panting in the darkness.

Eric M. Petit