When I Heard Your Lips

"When I first heard your lips define my skin"
it led me out, your sound true, your scent known
in ancient ways of knowing. As elfin
cloud forests cover dwarfed plants until crowns

of flowers emerge, sing their songs to all
and touch those bereft of color, so blown
to life was I. Your fingers traced maps, called
forth sight, showed hidden paths that might be flown.

Is love clear like that, smooth when ways are rough?
From whence comes this gift unbidden if not
sheer beneficence then bestowed pressed down,

flowing over for forty years, toughness
gone, not needed, love enough that I caught
your lips and let them define my skin, gowned.



In response to Victoria Slotto at dVerse Poets Pub who asked us to write a poem using synesthesia that intermingles the senses. *She gave an example poem by Jane Hewey- "I Let You In". I fell in love with Jane's last lines and used them as my first line.