Almost [V3]

fingers drift across your darkened skin
like the building shadows from
the slow smooth descent of a summer sun
behind the gentle curve of the west
I try vainly to memorize
the last warm dissipating rays
before they leave me desolate

arms tense around your waist
like the eternal pull earth on a lustrous moon
invisibly powerful and evocative
of a stellar waltz in a vacant ball room
after everyone else has gone off into the night or their bedrooms
but the moon is quietly slipping away
losing grip with each graceful turn in the dark

your ethereal eyes in mine
the soft burn of a million clustered stars
that reveal themselves to the romantics
who leave the modern cities scanning the skies for love and inspiration
only to realize that all those brilliant beacons in heaven
have already died years ago
in a cosmic sigh and collapse

nearly kissing you
tender pink flesh parted waiting for warmth
but feeling cold static air instead
was almost remembering a dream
of unreal beauty and color
before it is swallowed by the vacuum at
the back of your mind

opening my eyes to the painful brightness of
another new-day sun still low in the sky
I lowered my head and moved east
leaving warmth behind me