Mercury

So sick of his ways, sick of the foster I crave. 

He promised us love, but love is only met at late-night visits,

lurid dreams where I join you in a repeated storyline,

forever pretending it’s the first time.

 I’m hugging you tight.

A midnight meeting in aphotic foreign spaces, always in haste.

My naked flesh on top of yours in beds of strangers,

 I feel he is calling me back; I must flee soon enough. 

He handed me this carriage 

strenuous work

without a deadline 

And this ethereal body, insoluble void

I,” the messenger,” Hermes, 

part of a witness fleet

Late at night 

Destined for your secret apartment

 found hovering, dying, thirsty 

In rooms filled with motionless bodies. 

The automated lights go off, and silence.

I meditate on every part of the wall behind you

with hands touching its cyan surface

 

crumpled, dirty sheets, in tune with your breathing

 My lips rub your naked skin, your tearful eyes. 

I love you. I love you,

 the oscillating mantra of our mingling. 

I love you, the love of a century.

Steps on cobblestoned streets on misty afternoons,

 white as a punch at an impasse.

A toast for dignity at the pioneer of rubbish, 

I shout, “To sacrifice.”