Edges of Ecstasy

Counting Kisses

a few dents here and there,
in a carriage heart
battered by longing
that mark cuts underneath;

souvenir scars,
the night is
a long way filled
with love's little stays,

following a chart of kisses,
planted on the hinge of an arm
or the curve of a unresisting neck;

a little map,
a treasure map
printed on a lover's skin,
anything but complete,
time adds to it;
wrist, shoulder, eyelids,
arms that were a bough
for a delusive seat,

places where memories now linger
for more than a second or two,
palms and fingers recount
touches of loving
from shoulder to neck,
the mind in small detour,
the heart on the nightstand;

counting kisses
in the light of the night,
love discounts
any place for hiding.

___________________

Small Breaks in Breathing

souls swap bodies
and fingertips slow

to write caresses
on the softest walls;

an embroidered handiwork
of kissing that leaves

an elegant pattern
on each other's skin,

lost inside the other,
all walls cave in.

lips unravel definitions,
its frontiers marking all

edges of ectasy, while
love's diction speaks low

from mouth to heart, giving
small breaks in breathing

to words as paths
on which all lovers go.

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