be wise my beloved, beware (17)

be wise, my beloved, beware

yr love like an armor sustains my
resolve, my courage; & compels my
tentative feet along this treacherous path.
& though i mirror much of what i feel,
my indifferent masque belies the riot in my
belly.

will the lion again maul the maiden? or has
he now been tamed?

a temperate angel stares up at me as i scry
my wine; taste dregs with my eyes. &
there i find power over my loins & my
whimsical soul to stay small temptations, to
brush past fleshy snares – for now.

u, who flushed out my love from hiding;
exiled it out into an uncertain open; what
cost yr slippery captive?

be wise, my beloved, beware, lift not yr
veil of self. nor reveal yr secret secrets.
nor let me insinuate myself into yr skin
or tongue yr ears or impress my smell on
yr breath.

there is a price on my head. better that
head adorn a wall in yr trophy room
than the pillow next to yours, or lay in
yr lap or focus in front of u the first
thing in the morning.

wild & unbroken i may turn on u or
even on myself; a fool wearing a blindfold,
i totter on the precipice of love.

© Joseph McNair;2009