I Know Not

My tongue knows not how to speak
No, not in the way of consonants
Or repetitions of words
Having lost all their meaning

No, my tongue knows not how to speak
Without drawing upon love
Not in the way of a four letter word
But the way which leaves skin glistening

I know how to speak
Not by whispers shed in a dim room
But by a heartbeat in the ends of fingertips
--how many pulsations shed off my skin
In just moments

Distance cannot speak, no,
As do beats meshed between clasped hands
Nor as do tears
Fallen upon an inked shoulder
Or does the glimmer, within the eyes of the beholder

No, over these miles, wind cannot carry
The reassuring caress of a gaze
Nor can it properly imitate
A lover’s pure embrace

Tell me that these trembles
These four chambers of our hearts
Have not been emptied of their meaning
Because, for now, we’re again apart