Reluctant Man-Eater

~ love’s lost caress ~

Acrylic on gold leaf by author

In a moment of vengeance

illuminated gold rang in your eyes

— A swift furtive madness —

sometimes I was caught,

held fast behind

that blazing thirst.

I, who had a mountain

of warm sand

for a bivouac

turned cold, trembled

like a lost caress

when arrogant dreams

took you away.

Like a reluctant man-eater

you ate lurking shadows

and like a pitiless sun,

opacity of bleached bones.

You knew my love was

a distillation of pale

blue tenderness

that clusters solitude

of all that is pristine:

cloud, magnolia, thistledown.

Feather, orange-flower, snow;

but you lay amongst

stark places strewn with

blanched expectations

and for me,

contempt