The soft seduction

I sit at the silent
                 banquet table
                          and peer out
                                 into the open
                                                   darkness
                                                  at your distant
                                                                    walls
               Across the screech
                                 of night birds
                                           beyond the still
                                                              trees
                                                    rises you citadel
                                          surrounded by sleep
               While I  walk
                         the invisible
                                     corridors
                                            of your heart
                                   searching
                                             for a passageway
                                                       to slip
                                                              by the guards
                                Poetry!
                                        A key turns
                                                    slowly
                                                         in the lock
             

But I will not steal
                                 into your bedchamber
                                                          and take you
                                         I will leave
                                                      the door open
                                                  and see if it is locked
                                                                          tomorrow
                                 I will dream
                                       of your ankles
                                                    in red shoes
                                           and the corner
                                                        of your lips
                                                    when you
                                                                 smile
                                                          and the distant
                                                                     look
                                                                       in your eyes
                                                               when I touch
                                                                        nerves
                                                                    you wished
                                                                               severed
                                                                                    but are not
                    What will you dream
                                 in your citadel
                                              knowing a foreign army
                                                                         is camped
                                                                                 outside your walls
                              I will build bookshelves
                                                          not hollow
                                                                        horses
                                                I will befriend
                                                               your dogs
                                                                      and read your books

                                      I will take you swimming
                                                                               in the river
                                                              I will see you
                                                                             undone
                                                                  but not take you

                                             I will wait 
                                                     I will be your friend
                                                                  I will seduce you
                                                                               with an open
                                                                                                heart
                                                                         I will wait
                                                                                outside your walls
                                                             I will know
                                                                      your secrets

                             Already
                                     I know more than you think,
                                                I know
                                                      where your pain
                                                                             lies
                                                          deep in the wounded
                                                                         labyrinth
                                                                             of your tower
                                                           where the skeletons
                                                                             of other men
                                                                                           are chained
                                              Lovers on the rack
                                                              that you abandoned
                                 And empty bedrooms
                                                and the open windows
                                                                  from which they fled
                                        And when you awoke
                                                            to find yourself
                                                                                alone
                                                                        you rose
                                                                                and walked
                                                                                            across
                                                                                                  the cold floor
                                                                                                            and locked the door
                                             And slept
                                                      in another bed
                                                                    and another
                                                That is why your castle
                                                                     has so many rooms
                                                       That is why
                                                               you sleep alone
                                That is why
                                       you draw your lips
                                                              so thin,
                                              That is why
                                                       your shoes
                                                                 are in boxes
                                                   and your bra
                                                                is on the floor
                                     That is why
                                                the walls are so high
                                                       only a thief
                                                               would scale them
                                                          only a thief
                                                                     would try 
                                             Only a thief
                                                     would be indifferent
                                                                          to the defenses
                               You’ve know to many thieves
                                                     That is where your
                                                                             pain lies
                                                         You burned the corpses
                                                                             outside your walls
                                                                  and scattered
                                                                                their ashes
                                                                         nothing grows there
                                      And you rebuilt
                                                   your tower
                                                                higher
                                                       above the arcade odor
                                                                          of charred desires
                      And you thought
                                           you were safe
                                     and you are
                                              and your heart
                                                     wanders
                                       the corridors
                                                 of closed doors
                                  and rests only
                                              in the trusted
                                                          embrace
                                                               of guard dogs
     

                I will not disturb you there
                                that is your private place
                                      I have no desire
                                               to steal your
                                                    frightened
                                                               weary
                                                                      heart
                      I am more dangerous
                                              than that
                                     I am an old book
                                          I am an unfinished letter
                                               I am the friend
                                                         that wants
                                                                nothing
                          I am the disarmingly
                                                    familiar
                                     I am the mirror
                                                  you pass by
                                                               unnoticed
                                          I am the empty room
                                                             you have not
                                                                            entered
                                  I found it open
                                                  and am waiting for you
                                                                                     there