FAMILIAR STRANGERS

I smile at you from inches away

I stretch my hands, caress your face

But my heart can’t reach that far.

I keep telling myself I know you,

I know you! I swear I do!

Time and again you prove me wrong.

A lot has changed, it seems.

Like the peeling layers of an onion

The wrappers are all on the floor now

Stark naked for the first time

I behold my present… unpacked

I meet you… I meet the real you.

I knew a girl once

Soft as a whisper

Sweet as a flower

I fell in love with her

Pure as the morning dew

She looked a lot you

I wonder if she is in there…

Behind this mask I behold

In there, somewhere, hidden

Within this shell I hold...

I wonder if she is reaching

Reaching out to me...

Not Today!

 I have courted the lioness

The feral graceful cat,

And in all her prowess

I have won her heart

Or so I think

She walks me proudly

Before her kind

Silenced many a hungry howl

Froze many a greedy growl

With but a single scowl

She took meat from her gangs

My hunger to atone

Caressed me with her fangs

On a bed of rotten bones

My rivals in envy watched

I looked deep into her eyes

Steaming cauldron of tender love

Loads of brutal strength for spice

In those blood curdling stuff

I clearly saw my fear

One day, I may be waking

Not in the warmth of her embrace

One day, I may be waking

In the warmth of her belly

One day... but not today