Your toes
2 Mar 1995

Tonight I choose to remember
your delicate toes
the touch of skin beneath mine
as I held your feet
gently between these fingers
these thumbs
we laughed about distance
discrete space
and now we:
oceans apart.

Tonight I long
to touch your toes
to feel your wriggling warmth
snuggle up into the palm
of my hands
I should like to wander
above your ankles silk soft
smooth the roundness
of the ball and socket there
then watch my fist uncurl
begin its delicate climb
up beyond your knees
to the warmth of you inside

Tonight these are the thoughts
of fancy embraced:
for the record
diligent scribe
I must declare
that these fingers never yet strayed
beyond the articulate
reaches of your beautiful feet

That is entirely my fault
I confess
but tonight
I wish you were here
beneath my touch
I yearn to leave
my fingerprints
all over your body

Tonight I choose to remember your
delicate toes
and their weight
considered carefully
between these hands.

Woman with long strands
of delicate hair
tonight I cast off all
meaning of your
anatomic grace
I long only
to hold you
softly
to touch your toes
tonight.