Exertion (poem)

I dreamed of someone as he requested. Pleasant dreams, a mixture of locations, and him there; a mystery, his body warming up as we walked up a steep hill so we could see the sun setting from a special place I have never seen before. I awakened before the alarm, savoring the quiet moments between sleep and full awakening. I slid from bed and made coffee, listened to the birds chirping outside while I waited, felt the lingering of the pleasant dream. And later, when I showered, a poem wrote itself across my mind:


Exertion painted your skin
with salt and scent
I want to step closer
inhale deeply
touch tongue to your flesh
I would taste you
sink my teeth into you
breathe you into me
until you fill my chest
with longing instead of air