Faded Kiss.

I wonder if it is possible to forget you
Today, I couldn't imagine, I couldn't dream of losing
hair flowing across my fingers
nipples taut and fresh against my tongue
the brush of skin on skin, like lightning silk

Like the first time I ever touched you
Really touched you
Just two knuckles kissing in the breeze, shyly
But nerve endings tingling, exploding all over
Like Vesuvius exploding in sympathy with a kettle

But I have been, once, twice, many times, without you
The days grow fatter and are consumed by the months
And your face fades
Softer and softer, like an ancient portrait
Of someone's grandmother in her youth

Still beautiful, but austere, like a Goddess,
Not like the girl who stuck her tongue in my ear
To see my face dissolve into mercury ecstasy
And the hair rustles softer through my fingers
And my lips thirst for the memory of something they have lost

But cannot find