a first kiss

a first kiss.
how long hidden in the folds
of curtains controlled only
by the chaos of unsynchronized
body clocks that walk the walk
of the minute hand.
a minuet from and to the hour.
soft.  expressive.
tasting like a white fragrance.
caught in a friend's surrendered tenderness.


breathe with me

you felt the air thickening
a quickening of pains excavated
to dance the dance of darkness.
a kiss of the night in the spotlight
the fight lost at a cost of humanity.
breathe, you said.  as your fingers
bled the surface ice into waters
of life left running like sweat
shared by theoretical lovers.
and with a single kiss you draw
enough of the venom from my soul
that I could taste the light again.


a small yawn

out of respect
you hid your lost attention span...
cut like a rope bridge
over the chasm
where stood Horatius
a moment before.
an heroic effort
and sweetly kind.
but spheres never 
intersect in totality.
and so.
I smile.


pagan mating ritual dance

you lured me in
like a sacrifice
to a beautiful Bacchante temple.
held close.
closer.
closer than I had thought possible.
or probable.
and so I smile.
hiding all the reborn
teenage trepidations.
found again foundlings
in the orphaned
romantic soul
of souls mated.
fated.
gated to flow
in patience 
perhaps
rewarded.


did you say it?

did you say it?
did I hear it?
do I both beg it and well fear it?
shallow scars still ache with memories too ripe.
did I see it?  did I feel it?
can I both accept and conceal it?
is stutterstep catching up with the morning light?


dog talk

a simple
matter of fact
attack
on my 
preconceived
conceptions.

you did it again.

caught me by
surprise
with a speculative
splinter
exploded
like a nuclear prism
in my greyheart.


a marked man

a brand that Cain would have proudly worn into exile.
but not a sign of exclusion from paradise, an acceptance.
a simple act.  a red print soft on the hand held
to comfort the hearts healing.  sealing a covenant.
starting in it's simplicity.
complicity in an act of blind kindness.


copyright William F. DeVault (wfdv)