you are quiet today and i do not
ask you the origin of such silence,
black and smoky and devouring
even my own sound now

you are quiet today and the bed is
your castle, the entrance to the bedroom
a moat filled with hungry monsters
like evil men on a mission

you are quiet today and i allow you to be
i will not cross the moat
i will not put my paddles in the water
but if you ask me, my paddles will be
the love sticks they are,
moving me like guppies through your protective moat.