i touch your mouth.
i touch your jaw.
i touch the shell of your ear, your shoulder blade,
the inside of your wrist.
you hum softly
the engine in your chest
hot and roaring
like a furnace
and when you exhale,
softly,
shakily,
smoke rises.
you compare yourself to a machine,
longingly tracing patterns on you skin
explaining the detailed webwork
of steel and wire that lies
beneath
that mighty engine sputters
and
groans.
you whimper into the sheets.
& yet i pluck you gently,
you pale delicate thing
and carry you into the garden
lay you down in the soft marrow of the earth
and let your bloom quietly in the
moonlight
                                           (you pale delicate thing)
i touch your mouth.
i touch your jaw.
i touch the shell of your ear, your shoulder blade,
the inside of your wrist.
you hum softly,
bright petals shivering.