If you would make love to my body
Begin by making love to my soul:
Outline the shape of my history with your tongue
wetting and warming the smooth planes,
the soft and textured surfaces of it
until they give, yield, become pliable
The surface of my life opening to you
Breaking like a wave across your skin
drenching you with the power, the momentum,
the salt spray of my being.
Form your mouth into the shape of an open question
and kiss me over and over,
till your kisses cover every curve of me,
nestle in every hollow, then spread me gently
with your fingers and plant your kisses
in each fold and crevice, until the answers
blush from my skin like mist
shrouding you in the soft mystery of my being
So that when you breathe, you breathe me
and when you embrace me, you know my
life force inside you, pulsing in perfect rhythm
with your own.
Just the way you know the shape and feel of every fiber
when you move your body through the air,
Dancing with a worthy opponent.
Beth Firestein
(1993)