Apollo and Daphne

He fired my desire out of clay and mortar
from top to bottom.

He breathed into the dark
fog of my hair and muttered,

“I want you” into my ear.

He planted kisses
along my neckline
that sank deep into me like
burgundy dahlias.
And with
the dexterity of Bernini,
he molded the soft hills of my breasts
until I forgot myself—
as mother, as daughter, as wife.

I even forgot myself as human.
It was as if I did not exist before
his hands touched my skin.
As if my creation began with
the graze of his fingertips.

I discovered myself as flesh, bone, and desire.
I did not understand Eve’s need for the apple
until I felt his lips against mine,
until I felt my tongue play with his tongue,
until I felt the thickness
of him pulsing within me

in a rhythm that created my own heartbeat.

Just at the moment when I
thought there was nothing more to feel,
I discovered ecstasy.

It surged out of me like lava
and burned away everything
I ever knew before that moment.

I was left with nothing within me
but one solid evergreen.