SKIN (written Jan 2006)

You are a matter which cannot be ignored,
put off until later,
delayed until the time is right.
There is no wrong which cannot be undone
by the call of your skin
luring me to place my fingers gently
upon the cool landscape of your years
where rivulets have run
and tributaries formed.
Where, for my part,
there is no fraction
with which I am unfamiliar,
that I have not traced
in my efforts to know you
inside
and
out.
And now,
now that I know enough of you
to be
certain,
that there is no other skin
upon this earth
which calls to me
as does your own,
I wander its expanses
as if in banishment,
seeking the wound
which will admit me
to your
inner reaches.