Poems from The Journey to Kailash II

/ Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 / 2 Comments »

Requited

 



You killed me to keep me near.
Seven days, from then till now.
Why won’t you kiss me, dear?

Your fingers squeezed my cries of fear
to silence as you kept your vow.
You killed me to keep me near.

You’ve slaked your needs yet now appear
so frozen — frightened — sweat-slicked brow.
Please, why won’t you kiss me, dear?

Your heart in thorns, I’ve seen it clear,
this distance you could not allow,
until you killed to keep me near.

Your love’s fire became my bier.
My arms reach for your warmth now.
Kiss my breath away, my dear.

My mouth on yours till I can’t hear
your shrieks, ungrateful lover’s row.
My tongue on yours, our fates cohere.
You killed me to keep me near.





“Requited” first appeared in print in The Journey to Kailash, Norilana Books, 2008. Copyright © 2008 by Mike Allen. Reading by the author, © 2007. Art: Detail from illustration for Edgar Allan Poe’s “Berenice” by Harry Clarke, 1919.

2 Comments

  1. […] DESCENT INTO LIGHT Mike Allen's Home Page  « Poems from The Journey to Kailash II  […]

  2. […] asked me if “Sad Wisps” had any connection to my poem “Requited.” It doesn’t, directly, but thematically I suppose they tread related […]

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