Liaisons Dangéreuses

Every love begins
and ends in flame.
No one is to blame.

The heat, though,
can be devious –
rarely like our previous

experience of it.
New ardent flesh
always feels fresh –

accommodating –  
we seem younger:
conquering our hunger

for deliverance –
before it hurts.
The pattern disconcerts.

Is it solipsistic
to imagine
that its pageant

is the merest repetition
of the old Big Bang? –.
when that rang

did it ejaculate the Universe
into concatenated orgasms? –
are we involuntary spasms

before we're dust?
Let’s not be rash.
Perhaps it’s holy ash.




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