Every kiss leaves ash

There is something dangerous
about the way you kiss me— 

not violence,
not hunger, 
but the terrible tenderness
of being wanted without disguise. 

Your mouth finds mine
and suddenly
I understand the weight of a moment. 

How one breath
can become a threshold. 
How touch can cause the soul
to
 forget
every warning
 it has ever been taught. 

You kiss me slowly, 
as though learning
a language that could ruin you. 

I answer. 
And the room falls away. 

There is only the heat of your mouth,
the strange,
unbearable feeling

of being held
exactly where I am most fragile. 

For a moment,
nothing exists beyond us. 
Not tomorrow.
Not consequence.
Not the names
we will have to return to. 

Only this— 
the trembling pause before another kiss,
when desire becomes almost reverence,
when neither of us
dares to move
because moving
might break the spell. 

And then you kiss me again. 
Deeper. 

Until tenderness
has teeth. 

Perhaps that is why
I remember it. 
Not because you touched me, 
but because  
for one brief moment
you made surrender feel holy. 

And when you leave, 
nothing remains
but the quiet, 
the ache, 
and the faint taste of smoke 
where your mouth once was.
Every kiss leaves ash.

 

 

 

 

Photo credits: Pinterest

Posted for Open Link Night #413 with Live Edition @dVerse Pub

8 Responses

  1. Björn says:

    This feels so rich, loved mostly
    Until tenderness
    has teeth.
    and then the strength in that longing afterwards

  2. Freya says:

    “Perhaps that is why
    I remember it.
    Not because you touched me,
    but because
    for one brief moment
    you made surrender feel holy.”

    Oh, what a beautiful, cautionary poem. Tenderness does indeed have teeth and it can take you places you never imagined were possible – which can be dangerous!

  3. msjadeli says:

    Sanaa, you are the Maestra of Sizzle. Love love love this. It takes me back… I wonder if there will be any more kisses like this in my future?

  4. Rowan says:

    Beautifully captured – kisses have their own language!

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