Benediction
Prose poem about sex and spirituality.
We come together in the dark, hushed voices heavy with emotion. Yours all guilt and fear, thick with resignation at the weakness of the flesh. My love is much simpler. I have long since stopped believing in the god you fear, but I feel him in your reluctant limbs, taste him in the passion of your kiss, in the thorny sacrifice which is your love. My embrace is the cross I hang you on. Your muscles strain against that great weight, as I lower my head to worship you. As I swallow your sin, this covenant between us, I tear from you one perfect moment of ecstasy. I rise to see the flash of numinous joy already fading.
Later, when the guilt wins, later when I taste your lash, I will carry your cross as you carried mine.
