The River Between Us
There were moments the forest forgot
which wind belonged to which tree.
Three shadows moved beneath the canopy
not lovers divided,
but two flames learning how brightly
they could burn
when reflected in another pair of eyes.
The night air grew heavy with jasmine.
Branches bent under restless weather.
Somewhere unseen,
rain kept kissing the earth
until the soil opened willingly beneath it.
And between them moved a living echo
a passing current,
there only to carry sensation
from one trembling body
to the other.
Because what undid them
was never the borrowed hands,
nor the mouth that wandered
like warm rain across flowering skin.
No
it was the way they watched each other.
One lover unraveling softly,
breath breaking like leaves in stormwind,
while the other held that vision
with the hunger of the sea pulling moonlight closer.
The forest listened.
Roots drank deeply beneath dark soil.
The monsoon pressed harder against the earth.
And the third presence faded into atmosphere
just mist between mountains,
just rain between thunder
while the true storm remained
where their eyes met.