Breath Control

I hold you wrapped in
the garrote of my hands,
I hold you captive in the
cage of my fingers.

desperate, you tug and pull,
struggling in your flight,
the darkness of my practiced hands
suffocate you into bliss

you fight for a thin breath,
you tremble and heave
and tatter the air with
your desperate jagged gasps.

I hold your golden air
in my throttling hands,
I hold your fragile light
twisted around smothering fingers.

you curl and thrash and pull,
desperate for rapture,
then, in the final moment,
you placidly slip away

trapped in the snare of
my flesh,
I pulled the light from
your chest
and cast you adrift,
your heart leaked away,
your lust sluiced out
into a throbbing sky
of blackened flames
and hollowed stars,

my throttling hands,
the tender ligature of my love
carried you out of yourself,
beyond your prison of flesh
to the exploding center
of your forbidden thirst.

my knowing hands
unravel you, spill you
out to the dark. the ropes
of my body choke heaven
into your eyes,
then in the golden moment
I coil you back.

I give you air and endless
sky as my hands cup your life,
and hold your breath in my grip
I hold the silver tendrils of your life
tangled in the fingers of my hands