When I Love You Well

When I love you well
there is no need
to love me back
to collapse from shallow breaths
weld a cage of anxious glances
to execute the cartographers
abandon your throne
and await me naked in the temple
or to don dark sunglasses
a broad-brimmed hat
and swallow yourself down into the hungry belly of night

there is nothing
for you to do at all
it is mine
my love
I never did give it
you cannot send it back
cannot burn it with a summoning song
or dash it to the cold stone floor

leave it to me
my love
to cradle in my warm hands
nurturing this downy-soft hollow-boned wish
for you to soar glorious across a sun-soaked sky
while I watch from this vast palace ground
I built by letting go of things I thought I needed
and offer as a safe place to land
should the compass in your blood
ever swing you back this way
I am here