tyrants

lovers

before heaven came crashing down around our ears
when freedom had first known man
and in atrocities we first came to know sin
in our loveless starving bodies and i
first learnt to breathe in kind words
spoken with soft eyes, raw lipped
against trembling scorching earth, you became like the rivers you
held in your hands
unclasping the gold you wore as skin
when atlas first held up the world and when
i first held you in my arms, shivering with sweet shocks
like venomous fickle serpents against the breaking waves
when i first came to know love
and you first came to know pain