We are concealed
in an igloo of solidified light.
There is us
and there is the world outside.
Every ray of sun shining in our direction
has twisted and congealed together
to weave this bright burning bower,
this incandescent cordon,
and conspires to keep us hidden,
out of sight, where we can finally love
without regard for anyone else.
Gentle tremors radiate
from the secret epicentres
of our intimate tectonics,
as we shift and slip
over and against each other.
That breath you caught and held
for the indefinite duration
of one moment of divine bliss?
It is released again into my custody.
The friction and pressure of my fingertips
discover you, find pleasures lost,
like ancient amber, among your scattered limbs,
where you least expect it,
as we lie behind a curtain
honey-heavy with sunlight,
soaked with sun, making this room
a slow summer twilight at midday.
Hiding with you in this artificial night,
I listen to the wider world of day outside,
hearing distant car alarms,
dogs barking,
children taunting each other,
shouts and protestations circulating
within the world of their childish play
a million years ago, a million miles away
from our translucent chamber,
the time machine of our love,
and the seclusion
of our private, sequestered reality
mediates a participation in love
made possible only in darkness,
only by pure awareness,
by presence and intimacy
immediate and uninterrupted
by the fragmentation of space and time
that light reveals,
so that our empty, desolate senses
- fit only for the world -
must abdicate their thrones to us,
as we penetrate, explore, extol
the endless worlds we are to each other
with the loud accumulations and crescendos,
the endless recapitulation,
of the million imperceptible earthquakes
our love precipitates with every touch
and propagates to our deepest understanding.
All the world's urgencies and imperatives
recede and merge
into a faint insistent growl, far away,
like the indignation of an old and toothless cur
guarding the threshold of a ruin,
or the distant thunder of irrelevant artillery
besieging the impregnable fortress
the sun has made of our secret city of night
behind the luminous palisade of these curtains,
these unassailable ramparts of light.
I know you at last, and we inhabit
periods of sustained perfection together,
moments where we can dwell forever,
even though the sun itself
will inevitably capitulate
and retreat behind the hills,
even though the world will fall.
The world's last bastions may collapse,
but you reveal your secret body only to me,
safely enveloped in that darkness I concealed
within myself and from myself so long,
hidden behind a monstrous mask, prowling
and patrolling the secret chambers of my heart,
just as the Devil himself tricked God
and imprisoned Him in Hell, and took His place,
and fools the rest of us with his imposture
and pantomime of grace, and make believe
about the mysteries of evil and original sin,
and I did not admit to my darkness until this day,
when I wrapped you in it, when I let you in,
and protected you from the world with it,
the woman whose bright presence endures
beneath the veil of your visible self,
and inspires me to heresies
for which I’ll burn.
Our love is a deep dive,
plunging past shame,
plummeting past guilt,
hurtling past confusion,
and reaching one fathom below Hell's last circle
where the pristine innocence
of the body's first pleasures
are preserved, and we recover it
on the other side of shimmering blindness
and the reset that we press
as we thumb and fumble each other
as though we were the first substance
to emerge from primordial chaos,
our bodies a jigsaw we complete for each other
with our eyes shut in darkness and ecstasy.
I want
to make every atom in you
throb and palpitate constantly,
engulfed by my severe and unending embrace.
I want
to bind and compress each atom,
intensify and accentuate their mute vibrations,
constrain and command their magnetic tides.
I want
to accelerate their electrons
around the walls of their pit and silo,
the circus cage they rattle in,
until they become electric seeds,
grenades of lust,
bursting with life,
erupting with miracles,
petals unfolding and exploding
to reveal the ignition of new stars in every atom,
unleashing an avalanche of superfluous suns
in the million universes that you are,
and your captivity in my arms,
in the citadel of my darkness,
saves me, and becomes my rescue.
in an igloo of solidified light.
There is us
and there is the world outside.
Every ray of sun shining in our direction
has twisted and congealed together
to weave this bright burning bower,
this incandescent cordon,
and conspires to keep us hidden,
out of sight, where we can finally love
without regard for anyone else.
Gentle tremors radiate
from the secret epicentres
of our intimate tectonics,
as we shift and slip
over and against each other.
That breath you caught and held
for the indefinite duration
of one moment of divine bliss?
It is released again into my custody.
The friction and pressure of my fingertips
discover you, find pleasures lost,
like ancient amber, among your scattered limbs,
where you least expect it,
as we lie behind a curtain
honey-heavy with sunlight,
soaked with sun, making this room
a slow summer twilight at midday.
Hiding with you in this artificial night,
I listen to the wider world of day outside,
hearing distant car alarms,
dogs barking,
children taunting each other,
shouts and protestations circulating
within the world of their childish play
a million years ago, a million miles away
from our translucent chamber,
the time machine of our love,
and the seclusion
of our private, sequestered reality
mediates a participation in love
made possible only in darkness,
only by pure awareness,
by presence and intimacy
immediate and uninterrupted
by the fragmentation of space and time
that light reveals,
so that our empty, desolate senses
- fit only for the world -
must abdicate their thrones to us,
as we penetrate, explore, extol
the endless worlds we are to each other
with the loud accumulations and crescendos,
the endless recapitulation,
of the million imperceptible earthquakes
our love precipitates with every touch
and propagates to our deepest understanding.
All the world's urgencies and imperatives
recede and merge
into a faint insistent growl, far away,
like the indignation of an old and toothless cur
guarding the threshold of a ruin,
or the distant thunder of irrelevant artillery
besieging the impregnable fortress
the sun has made of our secret city of night
behind the luminous palisade of these curtains,
these unassailable ramparts of light.
I know you at last, and we inhabit
periods of sustained perfection together,
moments where we can dwell forever,
even though the sun itself
will inevitably capitulate
and retreat behind the hills,
even though the world will fall.
The world's last bastions may collapse,
but you reveal your secret body only to me,
safely enveloped in that darkness I concealed
within myself and from myself so long,
hidden behind a monstrous mask, prowling
and patrolling the secret chambers of my heart,
just as the Devil himself tricked God
and imprisoned Him in Hell, and took His place,
and fools the rest of us with his imposture
and pantomime of grace, and make believe
about the mysteries of evil and original sin,
and I did not admit to my darkness until this day,
when I wrapped you in it, when I let you in,
and protected you from the world with it,
the woman whose bright presence endures
beneath the veil of your visible self,
and inspires me to heresies
for which I’ll burn.
Our love is a deep dive,
plunging past shame,
plummeting past guilt,
hurtling past confusion,
and reaching one fathom below Hell's last circle
where the pristine innocence
of the body's first pleasures
are preserved, and we recover it
on the other side of shimmering blindness
and the reset that we press
as we thumb and fumble each other
as though we were the first substance
to emerge from primordial chaos,
our bodies a jigsaw we complete for each other
with our eyes shut in darkness and ecstasy.
I want
to make every atom in you
throb and palpitate constantly,
engulfed by my severe and unending embrace.
I want
to bind and compress each atom,
intensify and accentuate their mute vibrations,
constrain and command their magnetic tides.
I want
to accelerate their electrons
around the walls of their pit and silo,
the circus cage they rattle in,
until they become electric seeds,
grenades of lust,
bursting with life,
erupting with miracles,
petals unfolding and exploding
to reveal the ignition of new stars in every atom,
unleashing an avalanche of superfluous suns
in the million universes that you are,
and your captivity in my arms,
in the citadel of my darkness,
saves me, and becomes my rescue.
The original version of this poem was this:
ReplyDeleteGentle tremors radiate out from our secret epicentre,
triggered by the friction and pressure of my fingertips
and the catch and release of your breath,
lying here on the bed
behind a curtain heavy with light,
soaked with sun.
Hiding with you within this last refuge of night,
we listen to the wider world of day outside,
hearing distant car alarms, dogs barking,
children taunting each other,
shouts circulating within a world of play
a million miles away from our translucent honeyed igloo,
and the seclusion our private, sequestered reality
mediates a participation in love made possible
only by pure awareness, a presence and intimacy
that our empty senses would not otherwise achieve,
as we penetrate and extol each other
with the imperceptible earthquakes of our love.
All the world's urgencies and imperatives recede
and merge into a faint insistent growl, far away,
the distant thunder of irrelevant artillery
besieging the impregnable fortress
the sun has made of our secret city of night
behind the luminous palisade of these curtains.
I know you at last,
and we inhabit periods of sustained perfection together
where we can dwell forever, even though the sun itself
will inevitably capitulate and fade.
The world's bastions may collapse,
but you reveal your secret body to me,
safely enveloped in the darkness
I concealed within myself until this day,
to protect the woman present beneath the veil
of your visible self.
I want to make every atom in you
throb and palpitate constantly,
engulfed by my severe and unending embrace,
I want to bind and compress each atom,
intensify their vibrations,
constrain and command their tides,
accelerate electrons around the walls of their silo
until they become seeds erupting with miracles,
petals unfolding to reveal the ignition of new stars,
and your captivity in my arms,
in my citadel,
becomes my rescue.