HELD IN THIS EMBRACE

as you grant these fingertips to set sail
and circumnavigate your world
they remember the surrender of your waist
and are now like spring
fulfilled in each climb of a vine towards summer

though my breath knows not when to release
or why it should
it knows it must
just as a vine breathes petals
white for a reason
red to a purpose
to mark its passage to a next existence

i feel you lean away from what was once
deeply towards what is now
half of your face pressing against half of my chest
an ear against the whole of me
a vine intent in the clinging
eager in the learning of the song
held in this embrace