Winding Words

When his words wind around her, then joy melts
All reason that she perceived in the dark,
Before he lit her up and left such welts
Upon her psyche: each one made its mark;
As did his face, his eyes, his chest; the breath,
That breaks the silence, now her storm is done,
Is so finely attuned it can caress
Without him reaching out, she has begun
To recognise* the symptoms that will seed
Much more than all the gentle precedents
That he has used to shield her from her need,
While he so blandly, amiable and kind
Could wait until this time for words to wind


*UK spelling