until I get burned

I’m not so sure I should be
wanting
what I want if
what I want is
you

I am feverish
with desire
and frozen
in ambivalence

I push and I pull
I want and I don’t want

to be drawn like a winged insect
to your light and your heat

You disturb
my universe
you intrigue
you disquiet
you awaken

You provoke me
to feel

But do you even want
what you say you want?


You give and you take
you appear and then vanish

with your promises
making me want to fold my wings,
return to my cocoon
fall asleep and have dreams
I won’t remember
because you’re no longer in them

until your spark appears again
then

you disturb
my universe
you intrigue
you disquiet
you awaken
me

drawn forward on
petal-thin wings
craving heat
flitting toward the radiance
of lambent dreams
I warm up to you
every time

I melt every time

until I get burned.

©1999 Tiffany Gholar