Taper

could be these slender candles,
narrowed at the tip
I have placed

in our bedroom, their
soft small globes of light
the only illumination with which we see

each other’s body,
as we lie together, touching
and talking before we join.

It could also be those jeans
you wear, so very tight on your legs
that I can see your muscles ripple

as you walk, as you kneel.
But it also could be
that central part of you,

ready and eager, unconscious
and needy. That is what I welcome now
into the warm, safe harbor of my mouth.