vignettes

the first time

My lips were palsied
as you brushed them with yours.
It was as though I'd drunk
from an aspergillum your tears,

And I'd known you well.
I mapped your secret geometry
with my eager hands
and fingered at the riddle within.

But you receded from me
like the burgeoning crest of the waves
from the shore,
And I knew you no more.

I regret that I was so fickle.
Love seemed an ocean
and you,
only a ripple.