in the summer

we are warm and red

sweat lingers 

sticky 

and sometimes sweet

the sun beats down on brown grass

another year with too little rain

sheets cling in the uncomfortable silence of night

and i reach toward you

unable to grasp your radiant heat

though the season makes no difference

you are far away even in this cold

piles of snow build up

protecting some mystery from me

i cannot see beyond the white of my windows

i cannot hear beyond the wall of ice

we make motions of loving

without having the heart

to leave