Tectonic Plates

There is a hot crumbling beneath the cold surface

Pushed apart, inching further away as you slumber

Come and conquer, let your fury be known

And then, rest your sweet head on my arid slopes

And dream of places greener and free from history

Abandon these too-familiar shores that froth and quake in and out of your vision

Like a desperate mirage

I am landlocked by your love,

My offerings sparse;

The shivering coils of my heart,

The contracting hollows of my veins,

The skin that falls and rises under your hand,

The tongue that searches for your taste and

The lips that never tell you how well you are missed here

So I break, unwillingly

So that we might collide again 

Calvary

Praying for calvary

To shake me clean of the past, to drain me pure of the present

To leave me in a permanent state of rapture, brittle like the embers of your love

Pressing my skin against the rough surface of the place where blood was spilt

The blood that stained us all, trying to get closer

Pooling at the bottom of a chalice, heralded by the dizzying smell of sugar

Making me heavy, like the billowing hem of your robe

The swish and lock of the door, and the stiff-mouthed recital heard from within

I never trusted, until now, that a place could save me

That an ashen, sullen sight might make me realise

My palms are open, my brow burning

I am ready

This is my final clutching of you, my searching blind in the darkness of you

Before it all bursts through and breaks me, washes over me and disintegrates me

This is my submission, my white flag

The weight at the end of the rope

Give me calvary