Love the Lip

You kissed my lungs
held my veins
sucked my eyes
brushed my brow
cooled my brain
used your tongue.

Like a visit from Mary
mother of God,
like a visit from booze
father of fun,
like a visit from America
son of a gun,
like a visit from Belfast
sister of love.

I burned your mouth
with Manchester jokes,
I handled your pain
with the touch of talk,
I gave you the keys
to my empty house.

Like a lazy locksmith
with strange ways,
like a copper lover
with warm cuffs,
like a mad memory remembered
from a Sallying night,
like an Englishman begging
for an Irish Queen's light.

You kissed my lungs
held my veins,
sucked my eyes
brushed my brow,
cooled my brain
used your tongue.

Your taste lingers,
a bloods bleed left
like a razor's nick.
Up against the wall
where once I loved
the lip I bit heals up.

John G.Hall(C)2004