Boaz and the Washerwoman.

Did I ever tell you about the day

Three days after you stepped from behind the olive tree

With the breeze hot in your face

Like you felt it.

Did I tell you how I held onto the soapy cloth in the water

Like I was the ocean holding onto the moon

Did my eyes doubt you for a moment

As I tasted your teeth for the first time?

I had never promised to hold anyone

Hands wet, pulling at the stars

Before the fall, I cut the ocean in two

As I swept my path across your skin

I never slept at your feet

While you were drinking away a memory that the sun never saw

But by your head, as equals

Remember

Even the angels know desire works both ways

Now, I’ll fight the windows and doors because they hold the space that took you away.

Or was it me?

This morning I’m not sure if these stains on my hands are the spot that I wish to out

Or is it you and I

Boaz, before Ruth, when you took my wrist to your lips

What did you know of waiting

When it was anguish from heartbeat to heartbeat

And we became the sound of cloth beaten by paddles

In the heat of the day.

After, when you held my hand in yours

Teaching my fingers to dance, I never felt anything else

Give me the way you feel about Jupiter’s third moon,

Give me blood oranges and sundrenched figs

The coffee stain on your elbow

The stains I won’t wash away.

Give me all the forgotten mornings and the books you laughed while reading

Give me all the pieces you never show to her

Give me the smell of your leather breeches

The roughspun tunic night

The cotton moon lying amongst the rushes

Boaz, man of honour, when you knelt with your face to my breast

And I clung to your hair

Tell me what the wishes of an old woman are worth

Because they seem to be pulling you away.

Defy gravity for me

In the hope that it will take it’s cue from you and stop listening

Become weightless

Turn me into the air

Because all I know how to be is an anchor

Defy your lungs

Hold on to me

Hold on to me because all the gods don’t seem to want me back

And the days are still cold

And my feet need to touch someone else’s.

Did your eyes doubt as you looked sideways at me

That night I made us stay out on the wet grass

Did you ever forgive me for the green on your knees

Because I never forgave you

For the day you removed one shoe and traded me away.