I never lay in your arms and spoke about lovers.
Our covers were never safe enough
To let the past drip from our lips
Like ancient lilac wine.
Never felt our hearts were strong enough
To let the veil down.
Never felt the security
To enjoy the romanticism
Of broken hearts bled before
Our chance in each other to be whole.

We didn’t go there.

Too much fear
the tether that tied us
Wasn’t wove well enough
To sustain the pain
Of past jealousy.
Like we needed to pretend
There would be no one before
And never be an after.

I never wanted a love so on loan.

Transparency.

Lover, let me lay in your arms
Still drenched in the scent, tantra,
Let me hear you tell me
What it was like the first time,
Let me hear how fondly you remember
Your favourite line on her skin,
Let me hear, in the warmth of your voice,
As you remember what it was like
To love the look in her eye
How it inspired you.
Let me hear how she lit that fire
And what it was that made it burn out,
Tell me how you ached
Without it.

Tell me about the loves you had before
So I might know how I’d sound as another of your ghosts.
If you can tell me how you loved
And lost
With all the sincerity and honesty
That lives in the cavern beneath
Where my head sits
Warm and safe against you,
I’ll know how you might honour me
Once I
too
have burnt from your desire.