Lacquered leaves reflecting sulphur street lamps. First kiss.
Fingers slippery on the back step, desire stronger than shame.
Curve of hip, first holding white jeans tight, later letting cotton sheets slide,
Soft pillow of curls, breasts stare at me beyond attentive eyes.
Kind words, fragile touch, transparent lace on watercolour satin,
Finer lace on rice paper skin, web of frail scars.
I miss everything about you
But you.
Promises of kindness and fidelity. The fear of those very things.
The unsynchronised trapeze. Reach and fall. And reach and fall again.
The story of me you rewrote. The sentences beginning with no.
The cage of your arms around me, the consolation of your back.
Holding my breath while we made love.
Doubt in your eyes. Metal taste of adrenaline.
I miss nothing about you
But you.
Dreaming of you I wake,
As without you as I ever was,
When you were here.