.......For Tom

Words come to you so easy
So how do I talk about
This sunset gold on
Your cheek and chin
Let you see it through me
Or me through it?

It was a different sunset:
I took you inside me
Up to the treeline
Far as my human arms
Could stretch us around the ancient cedar
Stubble of rough bark and
Mossy smell of it in my face
The language of flickers in the fir trees
Birdcalls in our ears
Under blankets of the last fern green light.

Red cedar strength
Flows through us even now.

Under white sheets
Warm thighs pressed together
Gold light, then pink
Fades to purple
Reveals us body to body.
Your sad eyes in mine
Each moment of light here
In this bed, this room
How it silences me
The curve of shadow
Down your breast and neck
My desire to be exposed
To be known
Not just to know.