In the secret of your sleep
your abandoned body
tells me the stories
you have refused me.
Here are scars aplenty
old pain lodged in the flesh
seeps through the unguarded
moments before dawn.
The upturned hand
a cup of resignation
that life is long
and sometimes bitter.
I dip into that fleshed vessel
breathe and drink
the human distillation
in a stolen communion.
The day will take you from me
seal you in its armour
but until then,
you are mine.