we have both learned, you and i, the hard lessons of penance for our decisions. for years spent in wrong endeavors and the years of absolution that come when the end result is wrong: the doing and undoing, the pushing and stalling. the need for a catalog of what we've had to swallow, the lists of wrongs we've righted for ourselves and for others.

these are my confessions:
that i have taken pride in your presence: that i am proud to offer you my broken spine and tangled mind.
that i lust for you: that i write sonnets for your hands, couplets comprised of your eyes and mouth, gospel rhythm for the twining of your legs between mine.
that i have a wandering heart: that when you touch me it leaps to your fingertips, following you across my skin and aching for closeness.
that i am gluttonous: that i will eat memories of you for each meal, soak up every spare minute in your day, chase down every dream you seek and present them with apples in their mouths, shining, on a golden platter.
that i have transgressed, and that i will transgress again: i have broken every trite norm that stood between me and my absolute love for you, that i will violate history and geography and meteorology to predict a beautiful future in which we are whole, and easy, and purely ourselves.

bless me, lover, for i have sinned, and will sin against any deity who crosses the path i lay for us. bless me, lover, with more grace, and forgiveness, and all the time you will allot me: i am grateful for every moment.