This poem is the intellectual property of Cereus Kaii (PTY) ltd as per the Copyright Act no98 of 1978 and may not be published (unless shared via this link on social media) without permission.
It was a Saturday , when we were introduced .
I was on the other side of the riverbank and thought that we would never touch .
So I dreamed , furtively , a fugitive from the fire in my flesh, when you shook my hand .
Because I’d never felt a thing until then .
You let go of my hand and I apologised for how wet it was .
It being Saturday , I would occupy my hands with doing odd dishes as furtive fugitives do .
Something must have fallen between us , then , like a wall or a curse .
Fell apart with an unavoidable presence presaging …love ?
I remember ,
you stepped away then .
And I carried on , weaving lies narcotic enough to keep me oblivious to
the sibilant suggestions of my soul .
It could never be otherwise .
Besides , you were going back to your side of a waning moon and I had already decided that I would
stare out over the water between our worlds and perhaps you would see how my eyes betray my lies.
Besides , I wanted you to know the truth I’d carried like treasure in spider’s silk .
Besides, I thought you’d never look back and it would be safe for me to reach as at one turned with
his back towards me . And that you would never dare unfurl a spider’s silk or reach for my
amphibious hand .
But I was wrong about you .
Because you kept spiders as pets and rescued garden frogs from dogs .
And I was lucky enough that you were patient enough to wait for
my aestivation to pass , keeping me like a flower you’ll never crush .
We float in a pool between worlds .
My fears subdued by the melitosis of your honey-kiss ,
fruiting in and flowering out of the interminable moment of us .
Photonic flash of your eyes recursively sweet , as I hold and have and
am become
all the particles of you .
