Lover’s Farewell

I can still remember,
and will always,
the sheen of your skin in the moonlight
the first time you were bare for me,
and the gleam in your eyes
I recognized as echo of my own.

Ah, alas.

For all the nights of pleasure
for all the mornings of warm comfort
settled in your arms.
Alas for the fret moments
wondering how you fared
when we were apart
and the anticipation of knowing
we’d be together soon.

Time was suspended for a while
and we reveled in it
darlings of some goddess of passion
worshipping at the altar of each other.

Now…
now we part
and I know I have no will to say goodbye
so I give you this
the distillation of my memories
perfumed with the last scent of our bodies rising
scribed with the nail-scores of lost control.

You will abide with me
like a treasure hoarded in my chest
locked within my heart
yet never seen again but in my mind.

I saw how the moon loved you
when I held you that first time
and I knew you were only mine for a spell;
I can no more possess you
than I can that gleam that sparkled in your eyes
when you lay down for me.

RCGA. 2010