What He gives

The music is soft and the beat

thumps under

the breath of the

humid air. 

Her body is curved

by the thin

slither of silver

light that rests on

her skin

like drapery. 

She exhales a sweet,

musky cloud

and the world turns

two degrees out

of focus.

Sanguine and sure, she

saunters over

to the prey lying prone

and ready

in self-sacrifice.

The heart already

consumed, his flesh

desires the final cremation.

*

The night hears

the sweaty slide

of skin and

gasp. 

The moon lifts

and lights the windows

that shake the heat

out into the sky.

The waves that

heave

their burden of water

onto the virgin shore

carry with them

the memory,

carry it back to the

deep.

*

The sky becomes

the blush of a

peach. 

The ground is wet and silent. 

On crumpled linen

the scent of salt

fixes in the last stains of

Eden’s gift.