a harsher translation.
not I miss you,
but you are missing from me
as in a pair of lips have haunted me since the theater
fingertips trailed from my knee to my ribs
warm breath creeping from just below my ear
to the base of my spine
in public I don't think I have ever been so willing
the temperature rose but nothing happened.
and yet I can't say I would have been above it.

I think that when you love someone so deeply
you will do almost anything to be a part of them
in the way that is exclusively yours
to be as close as two bodies can get
without destroying each other.
I don't think it's a question of values or virtue
or age in certain situations
but a question of heart
and possibly maturity because
the best thing ava wilburn ever taught me
was there is a difference between
fucking, having sex, and making love
but eventually I learned on my own
that when you love someone from your split ends
out across your fingertips and
all the way down to your toes
every moment makes something
and every thing
is making love.