semi-paralytic

I lapse into a semi-paralytic lull in your presence-
nothing bothers me at all.

I’m like the cat that goes limp by the neck, in your jaw.

When you’re seated beside me, in church or subway
bus or bedside,
everything is holy, all around us go up
the white willows,
the ornate stained glass, the dark polished wood,
the fast-billowing smokestacks on the turnpike
every switch in my body shuts off
except the one labeled pulsing
the one labeled now-

in your presence, it flares
then burns me into nothing.