Remember the day that I looked

Down into myself

In the sauna

With you beside me?

We watched the droplets of sweat slide

Over my skin and dissolve into

The dry, heated cedar.

We lay side by side

Along those roasted

Slats of wood,

Our eyes closed,

Hands clasped,

Inhaled the arid

Death between

Intervals, as the

Steam hissed from

Sweltering cinder

And choked the air

From our lungs.

I remember.

But I’ve never been able to capture, just yet

The moment when

Love slipped from my pores

And into that room,

Where everything goes to die.

Love elephant and want to go steady?

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Editor: Bryonie Wise

Photo: elephant archives