We keep meeting
Under the lamplight
Always a lamplight
Sometimes near and
Sometimes far but
Always always there
As though these
Silly lamplights bring
Us together like
Moths dancing about
Each other but
Never ever landing
As though this
Dance that we
Do around this
Inconspicuous lamplight in
Some far off
Borough is what
Brings us together
A smoke and
A laugh a
Hello and touch
And with each
Passing lamplight and
With each passing
Time we remain
Just two moths
Around a lamplight
And it was
There in the
Shower when I
Learned you best
A place of
Nakedness with nothing
Between us but
Water and steam
No clothes to
Hide behind no
World to think
About no place
To be or
Time to keep
We called it
Our safe place
The one place
Where being ourselves
Was the only
Way in and
Only way out
On a prairie
As vast as
An ocean we
Sprout and struggle
Reaching up higher
Lavender and peony
Daisy and daffodil
Sunning like cats
On a windowsill
Each of us
Magnificently alone here
Until invisible vines
Tickle tender torsos
These invasive lovers
These relationships that
Slowly wind their
Way upward eventually
Becoming so entwined
That to pluck
One you pluck
The other too
But not me
I continue higher
Above the rest
Preferring to be
The best the
Tallest robust me
Chosen for beauty
And not simply
Because I’m here
As has happened
To my friends
And now I
Know why I
Dream of you
Beneath the years
Of hating you
Are the hours
Of missing you
But while awake
All I think
About is why
Did we end
But while asleep
All I dream
About is how
We ever ended
Yes you are
My waking nightmare
As you are
My nighttime love
Lay with me
Let me paint
You with words
Let me strum
Your hair like
A harp let
Me tap your
Tummy like a
Tympani let my
Fingers dip in
Loves water colors
And draw circles
Across your brow
Down the cliffs
Of your cheekbones
And pool in
The hollows of
Your throat lay
With me and
Let me look
Into your eyes
And see stars
So far away
Yet close enough
To touch stay
Lay with me
Delay with me
Let this night
Last into the
Day with me
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 