Endless

I can imagine walking with you
through a snowdrifted city, warming you

as you huddle into me, as hands surrounding
a fire's glow, and the fire reaching out in wonder

overeager with flame to touch and lick the fingers,
saying, 'I won't burn you - not if you

pass them through me quickly.' But I would not burn
you, or make you callused, and callous - indifferent

to the singe of my tongue. But back to the snowdrift,
the roads clogged over with snow, a moon shimmering

inside the white frozen glow, the road a river. The pavements
being treacherous, we take to our boat:

come, let us paddle, slip into the warmth of my coat
like a traveller seeking shade in a cave.

And light a match, hold a candle to my skin.
The rock shall reveal a message therein:

sketchings of animals, shaped in wondrous awe.
I'll join you, my love: pass the charcoal

and turn your profile; in the faint lemon-juice
cave-shimmering half-light, I'll start to draw.