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The Leavetaking

This farewell is a silent one:
Inscribed on your skin
With lips and fingers;
Implicit in the twinings
Of hip and breast and thigh.
Don't expect words from me
Or tearful partings.

And please don't tell me that you love me
Whispering caresses in my ear
With Judas kisses that leave me cold.
Words fly the air like decieving imps
Or stagger in painful and protracted march
Between us.
Farewell my foolish lover -
Let only your touch
Wipe your nimble fingers from my flesh,
And shared breath brush thoughts of you
From my head.

1990