FROM, ELIAS

Frosted window refractions frame
                                                        You, my
sleepyhead.       We hibernate together:
sacred agoraphobic days,
my fear 
                      of everything but you.

Sometimes    when you stare at me I know
you see your mother      rancid,
                                     my orbital temper,
                        frenzied, predictable,
lining fur shawls   that hug our necks
and you --
                I’d be lying if I said you don’t
                             move like my father,
prone, pathetic,    needing a coffee in bed,
doing drag of drag in all my dresses -

But your skin leaks CBD      hearing
my choked breaths,     dead
     asleep.       You won’t laugh
when I’ll need a CPAP machine.
You’d quit nicotine            to live
                               more nights like these,
graying your hair with all my
                              imprudent schemes.
 
So stay in bed longer,
	     stain a sweat halo on my sheets.
I’ll cherish you as long as you love me.