She Was A Lit Candle, Warm And Soothing

She was a lit candle, warm and soothing

But dangerous when left unattended

I tried to drown out my thoughts of her with the strongest drink

But they remain unaffected and I have learned to swim

A lovely sleepy moan, ginger in the half-light

Long tresses of vermilion clouds flowing down alabaster shoulders

Buzzing around swollen coral flesh

Her languid hazel windows, my stirring erubescent goddess

I trace purient memories

Last night’s masterpiece in pooled Monet oil

My fingers unmade the buttons of your longing

Unlacing the cement that holds your damaged pieces together

You painted me with your amnesiac sins

I became the shrine for all your “broke and bent”

Draped around old frames

Coaxed like honey that drips from new fingers

Do you ever miss those nights?

The half-light of the bathtub, the bare thighs

The drip, drip, drip

You melted into something shimmering… like blood, like nothingness

Beneath the cracks, she finds the cellar where I ferment

Making an addict from a dabbler

The despair and repulsion is grotesque in it’s beauty

Lewd and selfish with a thirst that cannot be quenched

She finds that spot in me…

Even deities blush

Their knees crack and crumble, its an all-consuming nothing

We forget for awhile… salty hair and sandy toes

Hearts drenched in gusts of briny wind

The troubles we left a few towns over

Fate bounding toward us with a new and strange force

Time is a stalker with a hook-for-a-hand

But the crook of my shoulder is neutral ground

You’re safe there