Lover and Friend

To all lovers and friends

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You are my lover, you are my friend,
my beginning... and my end,
the morning star at break of light,
the gilded moon in the dark of night,
the song of the thrush by my windowsill,
the whippoorwill's tune as the shadows fill
the sky, that but a moment ago,
was tinted with the rosy glow
of setting sun and passion's heat,
the solar nimbus in complacent defeat,
accepting in ever silent surrender
the solace of darkness... after the rapture.
You are my lodestone, you are my star,
the fabled moonbeam kept in a jar,
the wild symphony of relentless desire,
scorching flames of molten fire,
that burn and scald this willing flesh,
a sacrifice offered, till there is less
of me and more of you, the heady brew
I drink, through and through,
without thought, without will,
a leaf, unfettered, that cannot be stilled,
twitching, jerking in throes of passion,
until, at last, I lie, spent and ashen.
A heap of embers is always my end,
vanquished so by my lover, conquered so by my friend.