Quite by surprise
I find myself
In the presence
Of God, or if not
God, Youth.
Not my own,
Nor do I have
Any place in it.
Yet here I am,
Effervescing,
A bottle poised
To pop its cork.
Summer heat
Refusing to fade.
Restive night -
That old foe -
Sour-faced
And anguished,
Walking tonight
In this street
Under lamplight,
Back to a time
When we drank
In dark alleys
Slipped a key
In a lock
And took
What wasn’t ours.
Raised sweet wine
To hungry lips,
Felt the ocean swell
Deep in our lungs,
Dipped the waves
And danced
Late into the night
Together, apart.
Once I thought
I would see
This world
Dreamt of voyages
By river,
Land and sea
Adventures
In the fevered
Grip of love.
And now I see
The impossibility,
The impossible sea
Between the dream
And the reality
Of what is
And what cannot be.
All the places
I have not seen
And never will.
The way of all
Who yearn to sail.
I have nothing
To give,
But these lines
And myself,
Wholly, to you.
Words rising up,
Fizzing briefly
Becoming still.
Tranquillo.
I want to dwell
In the realm
Of you,
Breathe you in
Like a bouquet.
Walk in step
And tarry, hold
And be held
As a child,
Feel the world
Through your
Fingertips.
Just to be
In the presence
Of God.
Your beauty.
Your youth.
Your love.