(WR)

The first stirrings, a prelude
Where pleasure wakens, 
gentle as breath.

the point of parting, 
of plunge and pulse,
A press, a joining, 
struck into depth.

Then, 
where the bodies holds their edge,
Rising on will, 
restraint its own warmth;
and it grips, grips, and trembles,
The thrill no longer patient to part
like a fever breaking
solar flare

the crest, a sudden climb,
A slant of stars 
where senses peak,
a flutter of potential 

the shuddering, the arc,
A swell in flesh and burst of light.

that lengthened lull,
A drop, a slide, 
the loosening bones.
then soft surrender—
Five or twenty moments?
tension released
a fading flame.

Scot Gresham-Lancaster
Brunswick, ME
November 2024