Beneath the willow’s sleepy green sigh,
we whispered dreams too soft to try,
your fingers brushed my startled skin,
a thousand blooms awoke within.

The river sang of distant seas,
your breath like petals of the sky,
I dared not meet your longing eyes,
their burning pulled my soul to shy.

Dusk wove gold through tangled hair,
a yearning sweet enough to bear,
your shadow kissed my trembling hand,
I lost my name to shifting sand.

A moth to flame, I curved, I spun,
half-afraid, half-hoping to be undone,
your silence broke like glass on air,
I drank the shards and did not care.

Moonlight poured in silver streams,
our bodies wrapped in distant dreams,
a touch, a pause, an ethereal flight,
we barely breathed against the night.

Your heartbeat throbbed against my lips,
I tasted stars on your fingertips,
lost in the hush of aching thirst,
too young to know if blessed or not.

Between the wish and whispered fall,
we built our heaven, doomed and small,
each stolen glance, a hidden sin,
a thousand stars just burned within.

Susanta Pattnayak