Water and Flame

Poetry originally published in the zine Blue Eyes and Blue Jeans by Linda McGee in 1995.

If we continue, they will know.
If we go on, they cannot miss
What must and will between us show.
…For want of one chaste, stolen kiss…
A fire may slowly die for lack
of fuel. A tide must soon retreat
Once more. But—ah, you call it back
Again and stoke the rising heat
—Despite the doubting, fevered haze,
My eyes are dazzled by your light.
The fire becomes a wilder blaze:
The tide becomes a flood. Tonight.
The chain of apprehension slips
Away: my heart and mind are free—
For I have tasted of your lips;
They have intoxicated me.