Spark

you are in a difficult place
work and family, stress
our usual bedtime skin
instead is talking, editing

and sitting at supper
I say I feel raw, vulnerable
you tell me I am at that moment
fully authentic and masculine

later we rest against each other
skin to skin but not sexual
and something begins to move
through me, something very old

which at any other time would have
been terrifying and anxious
but now, your hand against my hip
is just something happening

I suggest we only date, for dinner,
conversation, walking, until your deadline;
for now, framing what we have this way
gives me new spaciousness

and I have no doubt, my Beloved
that when your deadline passes
the work is done, and you are satisfied
that we will find the spark

that is not gone but simply resting