“The Kiss”
I snaked a ruby from your kiss
When you weren’t looking
When you were transfixed
On another time
On another girl.
I licked the beveled edges
‘Til I bled,
Cutting off my tongue
For the things my eyes said.
I tried to pour into you
The nectar of a ghost
That never lived,
A man that dwelled in my childhood hopes
And past-life regressions
And I can forgive neither of us
The transgressions:
My reaching or how you fled.
You, boxed in yesterday,
I escaped into tomorrow.
Neither of us were really here.
Neither of us can hold fast
To what we hold dear.