Life Drawing

First
Your eyes
Subtle drops of clear watercolor
Claiming the light
Strands of your hair
Swaying in the hot, still air
Shimmering in the spotlights
Then
You move
The music started a bit before
Who knows when
Your hands on the pole
Like an artisan
Every gesture a craft
As your body searches for answers
In the dark
Bending
Vivid poetry
A different language
I could see you move in space
Cutting lights
Renaming shadows
For weeks
The way each of your muscles
Is drawn tight
Sculpting the contours of a soul
That might, or might not
Be yours
Unraveling the fabric of what we are
A form of tenderness
Perhaps
The things only a body can whisper
I tried to draw some of it
I’m not a good artist
But trying was enough
Sometimes your eyes would wander and I would froze
My fingers would stutter
Lost in the lines of your face
I wish I could have placed them on paper
To show you through my eyes
But maybe it’s good enough
That I can write
And that my soul
Remembers.