Shadows echo across her ribs in the half-light,
my fingers following the curves of her chest,
like skeleton keys.
Gentle falls of her hair catch in the hollows of her neck
the lines and bows of her spine;
an ellipsis beneath her flesh.
Between my palms, a violin wakes in the dark,
singing breaths and moans in my ear,
rhythmic tunes between ashen sheets,
A musician composing love
between syncopated heart beats.
The pale curls of her breasts,
perfect spheres that ache under my tongue
a soft vermillion blush
skids its fingertips across her nose
long hours whispering the notes and tones of her
across staves of bone.
These moments with you are too fragile,
too beautiful to remember with words.
And still I try to lay you down with soft ink falling
red and blue onto white pages,
to find meaning in the spaces and have you held
under my hand in the slow tilt of a pen,
the way you linger on my lips, my mind, my tongue.
I chase ghosts when you're not around
following your echo into sleep,
wrapping your body to mine in waves of
sweet deep memory
and whispering love into the sheets.