A Slow Unraveling

Bathed in morning light
She lounges against pillows
Long hair draping her shoulders
Her white gown closed
But untied at the waist.

Between us swirl a cosmos
Of bright things
Caught in morning rays.

The taste of coffee lingers
On her lips
Rich and roasted.

Strands of silken hair
Smooth under my hand
As my fingers cup an ear
The way a child’s might
A conch shell
Swept to sand by the surf.

In the iris of her eyes
Brown flecks are caught
Like small things trapped
In amber
Eternities ago.

This morning will be
A slow unraveling
As I separate the layers
Of her alabaster body
Into the core
Of her volcano heart
Into her molten center
And the fierce ardor
That bids me welcome.