shell

I meet you

and my heart bleeds words

and so

upon torn scraps of vellum

I write the words down

in my blood ink

to capture

the beating heart of you

in the beating heart of me

I have chosen my most special epithets

and inscribe them

upon this precious parchment

and with a gum construed

from saliva

and sweat

and blood

and tears

I paste them

upon your soft skin

to cling like lips

to each ululating contour

to follow the curve of your cheek

the sweet overhang of your breast

the challenging valleys

the darker ravines of you

shaped and followed

by my anxious collage

and through such moulding

have I not trapped the beauty

of your spirit

within this papiermâché shell

you dance

and dandle

drift and delight

and I adore you

in this cocooned form

even while I watch

the spirit sift like spun sand

from the pulpit

of your eyes

and listen

to the sea

shudder in your breast