Unknown Waters

It’s not that I haven’t seen skin before;

but something about his draws me to it.

I find my eyes lingering

on the spots I find exposed, the smooth

place at the top of the knee, the tender

dip in the center of the wrist.

The very top of the neck, just before

that sweet softness becomes speckled

with stubble.

I find myself longing to trace the stretch

of the stomach, to feel the ridges of the ribs.

To follow every vein and artery on its path

with my fingertips. Perhaps I stare such

at the skin because I find myself

avoiding those eyes; after all, each time

I chance a glance I feel as though I will fall

into them, so openly sharing their

twinkling smile.

In their blue I see my many oceans,

my beloved sea waves, the brightest summer

days under those blue skies. The same

heart wrenching longing I felt as a child,

the waves licking at my toes as they buried

deeper in the sand, as I dreamt of plunging

into that vast blue, deeper and deeper.

I felt as though I’d lost some piece of myself

there, among the fish.

The same feeling finds me when I look

into your eyes.