Indelible Poem by Eila Mahima Jaipaul

Your tongue skims my surfaces
and I respond as I must, giving
the appropriate shudder,
the expected sigh.
A caress, the apparent
simplicity of touch, fingertips
glancing across breast and thigh...
this is just as it should be,
as I thought it would be,
just flesh and flesh.

But surely, I think, surely,
you've tasted more than salt.
Something in me that is leaking.
You have consumed
an allotment of the pain
I carry proudly in my heart.
Bitter visions that rise to meet you,
though theres no way to tell if they're medicinal
or if I've poisoned my lips.

I sought no depths, in you, you know...
and yet our bodies, joined together,
have grown beyond themselves
seeking meaning in this union,
like rag-clad saints,
interpreting signs from the heavens.
Predicting windfall, or disaster,
a different answer comes
from each mumbling mouth
moment to moment.