LAURELS & LUNA

LAURELS

You saw me at full noon,

Leaving the stadium

Among the boys,

Clear-eyed, breathless, laurelled

A laugh rising from my lip.

You did not see me at midnight

Beside my lamp.

Eyes dissolved, brow crowned with sweat,

The sting of vomit in my nose,

My head, my gut the playing field.

LUNA

I had never known you so white,

back arched over the pillow

like an ivory tusk.

Even now I cannot understand

the source of that light,

whether it was your own

or the reflection of another.

Whichever, my body still recalls

the soft moon-colour of your skin,

how it drew me over you,

like a summer tide.