Prayers

I plead with urgent faith
like one who prays in haste,
like one who knows they’re marked
and awaits the bullet’s grace.

I cast all my petitions
to ward off this cruel fate
that stalks me with vile cunning
and threatens to desecrate.
And I beg that your eyes,
fireflies of harsh decree,
dim their vibrant shimmer
and not gaze deep at me.
Nor that your honeyed voice
slip into my senses’ gate,
nor that your pristine skin
brush my body, ablaze with ache.

I pray for my humanity,
I plead for my redemption,
that I not feel in the breeze
the scent of love’s intention,
that blooms near your presence
with treacherous affection.
That the sound be silenced,
sweet and fresh like a song,
that flows with noble grace
from your voice, soft and strong.

Woe to me if I don’t escape
this sublime confrontation
that threatens my resolve
with bitter aberration,
and I must face your visage
head-on, without disguise,
exposing to the light
my cracks and scars inside,
etched on porcelain soul
by bonds that proved unwise.

But no prayer can suffice
to divert me from this fate,
not even death itself
can steer me from the gate
of your spellbinding speech,
your hair so sleek and straight,
the crimson of your lips,
and my dreams, now in decay.

I cast off all my prayers,
renounce my own denial,
and open to the piercing
daggers of desire’s trial.
Like wine I drink your kisses,
I, the thirsty abdicator,
and I ride the waves of longing,
live the fevered hallucination,
of your body with mine,
in trembling exaltation,
consummating in raw flesh
this chimera of temptation.