neither the moist intimacy of your eyelids fair as fennel
nor the violence of your body withholding behind sheets
nor what comes to me as your life
will have so much slender mercy for me
as to see you sleeping

perhaps I see you sometimes
for the first time

you with your chest of guava and grape
your hands cool as spoons
your haughty griefs stain every corner blue

we will endure with each other

even if the sun culls the rooftops
even if the state cooks clichés
we will fill our hearts with colour
and the fireworks of finches
even if my eyes ride a rag to the horizon
even if the moon comes bareback
even if the mountain forms a conspiracy against the night

we will persist with each other
sometimes I see you for the first time