lovefire

lovefire

there was always fire
      beneath the floorboards
          of our love

like horses trapped in a barn,
      their enormous nostrils and wild eyes
          full of smoke

we kicked and stammered against
      the walls of our stalls
          insane with fear

we stove ourselves purple
      and broke each other's legs
          helpless with fear

consumed with survival's urgent
      chemical imperatives, we crushed
          ourselves beneath the smoke

and so we lay, half-dead on the barnboards,
      an absurd testimony to the holy fire
          of our love.