Night-Jasmine

I knew
at the tip—
 a flicker,
 a micro-light,
 already gone.
dreams / calculate / themselves:
 how many must ignite
 before a star-eye
 registers—presence?
centuries collapse:
 light-years → ache-years →
 I glimpse (too late?)
 what love might mean.
I grew
dew—
 beads on leaf-edge,
 a geometry of falling.
then suddenly / your body /
 around mine:
flame → wick → Shivaratri midnight.
your skin = yellow smoke,
 climbing trees,
 an incense trunk.
I burn—
 joy, grief,
 womb of fire.
sleepless / tonight / equation:
 what penalty = desire + spark?
Night-Jasmine sweats:
 each drop = tenderness,
 each drop = betrayal.
a moth—dark, wing-frayed,
 released—
 flies blind /
 straight into fire.
I—burn—
 locked room / of love /
 no exits.
yet— I turn
to be held was enough.
knowledge remained,
 like a shard in the mouth:
before the sprint →
 death is rehearsal,
 a wound of love
 never ripening,
 never closing.
immortality =
 dying / once /
 with you.