Confined

For hours we lie

In a cramped room

Unwrapping

Each others secrets

Thoughts made senseless

By a fevered delivery

Endless in the pursuit

Of truth

*

You picked up

Your mask

With your coat

Hung it casually

Like a half moon

Over your darkened face

And closed the door

I knew that I would

Never see you again

Not the you

Whose hands I’d held

Against

My naked heart

*

I drank the wine

That you left

Turned the sheets down

And read for hours

The words muted

By your abiding presence

I fell asleep

Wrestling the sun,

For your

Unabridged memory

*

I have seen

Your face

In the promise

Of strangers

And sometimes

In passing.

You wear apology

Greetings eclipsed

By anxiety

Smiles diffuse

The distance between us

Extending for miles

*

I long for

Confined spaces

For words burdened

With emergency

For eyes

Burning beneath

Lowered lashes

*

Every time

You pass by me,

Hurried off

By a polite excuse

I promise myself

This is the last time

The very last time

I’ll entertain love again