By l. leslie shields
Date: 22 July 1998

Melding

There is more to all of this
than skin against skin,
a minute of madness fueled by a hint of musk,
or a moment of hunger abated.

There is the look you give me
across a room, across heads and conversation
that touches beneath my clothes
that spans the quiet of our bed,
that fills the cup with heady wine
that I always love to drink.

Love is what happens after the sheets cool,
the quiet conversation that needs less of 
words
and more of meaning---
Content is the scent of your throat
when the world is walls away
and I know exactly why I am with you,
and exactly what we are about.