DANDELIONS

 
sucking down the violent rain
while locked in a kiss
the grass tickling your back and
my lips forcing your mock smile
as dandelions snag in your
matting hair like a crown
 
my knees and elbows
piston through black mud
pitiless inexhaustible engines  
forcing your shoulders to tear
up roots disturbing silver
moonlight hardback beetles  
 
I will
put sod back down tomorrow but
that is in honor of the cockcrow
which demands I should be sorry
and I will not be shackled
until this miracle is performed
 
in this hell for two I
have you for now yes
as I have you once again
 
as rotted silk gently melts
blue hieroglyphs into pale skin
and the cautious work of needles
and bone and tendons snap grisly
 
the white of the fire between us
is the agony of a moment
where the cold waits
to rush in again and
whatever Fahrenheit I still feel
pulls the terror mercurial
through my tetanus jaw
 
I do not need to see your eyes
to know that they seek a braver
constellation than this
nor taste again of fingernails dark
with the plague of scraping
toward a different pit
 
within my palm already a dandelion  
which I will study as it wastes away
the morning awaits and I must
entrust you again to the grave
 
it would be madness to believe
that each time it could be the same