Of a Gentler Persuasion
I once was a man
With a carpenter’s hands
Working wood with a reverent grace,
Melding together
Oak pieces and leather,
Til the day you walked into my place.
No five-o’clock shadow,
Smooth touch like still water –
Or like silk on wood after sand…
Your face drew my fire
With the gentlest desire
And sung in the palm of my hand.
I wanted you dearly,
But I knew more clearly,
We’d be killed if we ever got caught;
And so I pretended
That our love had ended
To protect what your innocence would not.
Twas later that evening
Your sister was grieving
And I asked her what caused her to cry –
She said that you’d jumped off
The cliff - where we’d made love
Once beneath a midsummer’s sky.
Now I sit with my carving -
My heart slowly starving -
And imagine your hands touching me…
I no longer deny it –
Such loss in this quiet –
And I follow your voice to the sea.