Love on Slow Release

By Amel Omer

Leaning against the sweetness of your lover’s mouth,
with whatever lingers
in the cleft between your breasts
of the night’s seductions,

you quiet your fruits
with a bite of biscuit,
a cup of tea,
and the morning news.

You bargain with the sparrow
for the birds’ own song,
and with the jasmine
for the mystery of its fragrance.

You offer your rain-damp hair to the sun,
and wave your freshly painted nails
to the gentle breeze.
You stretch with the languor of a morning
not yet ready
to become morning.

You open the window—
and your little audience greets you with jubilant cheers:

the trees lining the street,
the newsstand,
the buses,
the nursery children—

even the beggars
delay extending their hands for a moment,
lest they interrupt Beauty
at its prayers.