A Darker Vow

Come nearer,
where the night keeps its secrets close,
where shadow curls around the pulse of the hour,
and my hunger, unashamed, learns the form of you.

I have loved you the way the storm loves the tower,
reckless, devoted, certain to leave its mark,
carving your memory into the dark of my heart.

Your mouth is a secret I keep beneath my tongue,
a sweetness I steal in the hush before dawn.
Let the moon watch if it dares,
let it see how I worship the curve of your spine,
how I trace the hollow beneath your throat like a hymn
no priest ever dared to sing.

We are a sin the night forgives twice over,
a flame that burns and never begs pardon,
a hunger the moon herself envies.

Let me feel your heartbeat against mine,
two storms colliding in the same black hour.
Let the thunder speak what my mouth conceals,
let the storm confess what my eyes still hide.
Bite the silence if you must,
let the dark keep our secret close and hidden.

I will love you in the hush of shadow,
in the low growl beneath every gentle word,
in the slow undoing of every clasp and seam.

Sweet ruin, come closer.
Let the night wrap itself around us twice,
and let morning find us unafraid,
tangled in something too alive to call sorrow,
too fierce to label as merely love.