In Your Shadow

When I put my hands on your body
On your flesh
I feel the history of that body

When I put my hands on your body
On your flesh
I feel the history of that body

Not just the beginning of its forming in the distant lake
But all the way beyond its ending

I feel the warmth and texture
And simultaneously I see the flesh
Unwrap from the layers of fat and disappear

I see the fat disappear from the muscle
I see the muscle disappearing from around the organs
And detaching itself from the bones

I see the organs gradually fade into transparency
Leaving a gleaming skeleton
Gleaming likе ivory
That slowly revolves until it becomеs dust

I am consumed in the sense of your weight
The way your flesh occupies momentary space

I am consumed in the sense of your weight
The way your flesh occupies momentary space

I am consumed in the sense of your weight
The way your flesh occupies momentary space

If I could attach our blood vessels so that we could become each other
I would
If I could attach our blood vessels
In order to anchor you to the earth
To this present time, to me, I would

If I could open your body and slip up inside your skin
If I could open your body and slip up inside your skin
If I could open your body and slip up inside your skin
If I could open your body and slip up inside your skin
And look out your eyes and forever have my lips fused with yours
I would

It makes me weep to feel the history of you
Your flesh beneath my hands
In a time of so much loss

It makes me weep to feel the movement of your flesh beneath my palms
As you twist and turn over to one side
To create a series of gestures
To reach up around my neck to draw me nearer

And look out your eyes and forever have my lips fused with yours
I would

And look out your eyes and forever have my lips fused with yours
I would

Like tears in the rain, all these memories will be lost in time
Like tears in the rain, all these memories will be lost in time
Like tears in the rain, all these memories will be lost in time
Like tears in the rain

If I could open your body and slip up inside your skin
If I could open your body and slip up inside your skin
If I could open your body and slip up inside your skin
If I could open your body and slip up inside your skin

And look out your eyes and forever have my lips fused with yours
I would