ivy

you smooth
down

body
paralleling
mine

sun
from the window

stretching shadow slits

across your
back

while you, laying your
head on a pillow

eye me wide
as if to say

here i am

you did not ask for me

but i am yours
for just this moment

perhaps more
who is to say

and me
smiling dumb

kissed hard by
desire but

unsure of anything

and wanting wanting
to reach out
and touch you but

i know
and you know—

look, even now
the clouds have shifted course

the ivy
lit from within
lazy in the sun

delicate green
veined against
your window

growing into each other
but to wither and die

and i know
and you know

our
bodies
are nothing

nothing
but shadow and dust

so when you reach
to touch my face

who is to say
i am not
already

gone