Coral & Cream

You'll survive me by several years.
A secret you share with the greens of Vermeer,
The reds of Balthus' Therese dreams,
& the candlelight pinks in a Botticelli scene.
In your art I have found refuge.

The textures of your scars & laugh;
Viscous vapor carrying veiled threats;
Resin coating your tongue;
wreathe, bathed in the embers of your ash.

I collapse as the tip of my tongue
Grazes the roof of your mouth.
And there you lie… supine—
Exposing tender ligaments of the
Durable pigments that keep you alive.

In my frenzied state of ardor—
"Have you always been there? In
Time present and time past?"
There's symmetry in this fear;
Within you and within I…

We stand created equal in the
Image of each other.

In the face of danger
I have all that I need;
Facing bright at me in Ultramarine,

Concaving
Merging
In undulating splashes
Sea foam
Your coral
In
My reef.

Time that made you, made me.
Our elaborations and perturbations were art thieves.

I circle the curve of your thumb.
Fondle the ragged indentation carved on your trembling calf.
Dip in your navel, waxing moon waist wanes from my palm.
Sweat, perspiration—strokes of my idling brush.
In ode to Orion that penetrates and cushions our fall.

Achingly,
Honey and milky sweet.

You'll survive me by several years,
If indeed we even sleep.

lmk what you think :)