kingdom animalia

we crash into each other like embers,
fire-flakes falling to our tip-toes.

we've been burned far too many times
to recall so you collect me in your arms
and we dance a slow dance.

we've mastered the steps to distance and Lionel Richie
has a voice like gravel but our fire-branded soles step to it
with ease like experience taught our souls to teach our feet.

you taste like winter, all sharp and forced
with your tongue cutting corners, except
we were born on the edge of a cliff neither
of us had the guts to jump over.

your summer is a half-finished book & a fireworks display,
and i don't know who this "they" is who does all the saying,
but they've told me that if the world condensed itself onto
the top of Mt. Everest, then everyone would love each other
10-fold more.

so we gaze downward like the pressure of the blood
flowing through our eye sockets can b-r-i-d-g-e the
g a p between us and potential.

eventually, our bones will cease to swing-set us home
but our hearts will carry the weight of commitment on
our shoulders long after our other muscles flow with
the breeze and fade completely.

for a moment, i thought you would set me free with your
drumbeats and the curves of your body, but we are both
caged lions :

animalistic and gnawing elephant tusks to
rubble since the dawn of time.