Harlequin

		
	Your tongue flickers
	   curious
	   a swift kiss turned questing
	as you slide
	variously tickling
	   at my ear
	   shoulder
	   and the nape of my neck
		

	Terra-cotta spots border black and gray scales
	   taper to a paintbrush tail
	   wrap my fingers in celtic loops
	You swim in spirals
	   turning over and over
	as you twine around my arm
	   weave a path through the hair	
	   on wishbone ribs
	and curl into my lap


	Cold-blooded and smug
	you stare
	with round brown eyes that tempt
	   never blink
	   never slumber


	Tasting doubt
	your teeth pinch my skin
	   envenom
	I loll
	   torpid
	   stringless marionette draped in a chair
	as you steal away
	hidden behind October colors