While you entertained us with your missives

I listened to your rhythm

Perched pleasantly  on a bar stool

As a percussionist  long absent from her kit

I heard each timid tap of cymbal

Each bashful boast of bass

And felt the dribbling drag of you attention across the snare

We smiled at our smiles

As you recalled your skill with each curved membrane

Until you felt even the dusk, drunk in your strokes

After a pause for your inquest

I kissed you my laud

The crimson curves of your crux

Wrapped around my own

With the pressure of two rubies seeping together

And my body became an avatar

So that a crippled heart

Might run and race again.