RIDER

      Again
to feel human, the heart's
bright sound
beating against the darkened chamber,
the body crossing its own frontiers
and my eyes that hold you--
impossible, the back with its softness
lifted from ribs as the bed rises
and you turn, awkwardly tender, the years
that lie in ambush

Even when daylight makes them invisable
like the far stars that govern us,
to hold that fast: your eyes,
stunned and withdrawn now, unreachable
in the white afternoons

My bent knee lifting so brave a weight,
breasts and belly above me with the bed rocking,
the air soft as it breaks against us.
Rider, I greet you again from my empty bed
who first crossed this threshold
and stupid with fear my heart      heart
broke rhythm & you yes
yes         A shrug of bright silk
next to me now your white
fullness moving,
the world made beautiful by desire