as in the event of a gathering 

as in the squeezing of juice 

as in making whole  

as in dripping down chins 

as in citrus giggles 

such childlike wonder, 

in the invitation of song 

two measures, then four 

we tap out new rhythms 

in the swirl of wine 

such that we are pregnant  

with sugar, chocolate, and bitters 

but never alone 

as to understand the topography of bodies 

the cartography of songs 

rich in the dream of a common language  

physical and still

for the love of skin 

for its reintroduction to the mother 

for the thirst-quench 

tongue-blessed  

silk-dressed, mint fresh 

we taste the milanos on our breath 

as in the medicine of adjacency  

as in the intimacy of stargazing 

as in the phases of the moon as storyteller 

as in leather and heat 

as in looking beautiful after so much time away 

as in the lull of rest 

as in the call of the lighthouse  

as in we are here. now. 

as in the melody and madness  

of our colliding universe 

as shift shaping integrators  

we become gracious 

to time and the shocking 

of our damn selves  

and our ability to wake up 

as in the dreaming of a new reality.