We breathe quietly,
that's how we were taught,
as the necter spills
off the edge of the beast
and splashes onto her thigh in the moonlight.

Tickled she clasps her hands
to catch the flowing river
as the beast stands straight up
his paws also clasped in front of him.

Stretching her leg
towards the trees
she licks the sap from her thigh
and spins her face down toward the mud
as the beast drops his knees to the Earth.

Agreeing and disagreeing,
their bodies jerk in time
with the humming of the songbird
that hovers over the night
as their beaded skin become glass reflections.

Her palms gripping the dirt,
clawing for traction
as her chin meets the sky,
he forces her head to the base of a tree
as the bark marks her skin with each agreement.

When her body swelled
the ground shook
as the shockwave
echoed through her spine
and the blood from her face had now mixed with the sap of the tree.

When it had ended
she sucked the paste
from bark and beast
and tried desperately to catch her breath
as the snow began to fall she closed her eyes for good.

12/14/2012