translucent trailed the tear

translucent trailed the tear

down her alabaster cheek

her pale, pink tongue slid out

then quickly in again

as she tasted her own sorrow

her eyes darted there but settled here

one corner of her red lips tic’ed a tweak

stifling a smile into a pout

at being caught to her chagrin

finding a place inside herself to wallow

she did not break her gaze or look away

and i, inebriated, rose to the challenge

the game became a contest and a dare

a dare i knew i dared not lose

yet had no idea what prize i’d gain

or what i’d forfeit if i had to pay

i only knew her skin so white and mine a sickly orange

from climates diseased beyond repair

and too much nameless, foreign booze

and a mind not yet mad but still no longer sane

i rose to my feet holding my drink

and her eyes at the same time

in a feat of dexterity that amazed even me

i walked a nearly straight

and narrow line across the room

and with no invitation took the seat across from her

words that needed saying i could not even think

an introduction seemed superfluous and asinine

for this much closer to her i found that i could see

myself reflected in her eyes, a fly in a spider’s loom

and the words i sought did not exist

they simply never were

her skin was far whiter than skin was meant to be

her lips were redder than a rose’s blood

her hair black as the midnight of a man’s soul

her eyes curled back and upwards

from a thin and delicate nose

a warm musk radiated from her like an angel in heat

i could not see the clothes she wore,

they meant nothing to me

from a whore’s red dress to a nun’s black hood

to an empty sack that once held coal

she opened my eyes so widely i was blinded to her clothes

as she drank from me with lapping sips

like a kitten at the teat

the room swirled swiftly ‘round me

and the light turned gold and warm

i swam and drowned and flew and fell

i saw lights like stars beneath my feet

and ships like shadows o’er my head

in the ‘morn i awoke in a dumpster

with leftovers leaving to fill a landfill

sticky memories a stain in my underwear

a head filled with yearning for unparallel pleasures

a vacuum i’d never felt before

and i crawled out of the filth and the feces

to search...to see her once more