After Sappho

You kneel at his feet, fingers

lacing his shoe strings, singing

softly. And all the air is gold

around you, you two

listening.

Your laughter is like sunlight,

poignant, painfully bright

and unselfconscious. Only I

feel it like a knife

within me.

I sense my soul recoiling

from something too warm

and not my own. My senses fade

from dreams, they are

numbing.

I melt and run like snow,

dumb and acquiescent.

This is death, and better

to die leaving you

in ignorance.