while I slept

a poem

Photo by Krista Mangulsone on Unsplash

The smell of a new book

crisp

on your pillow 
held in your hand
your skin, your sleep, your scent 

orange blossom nectar tea 
from deeply exhaled breaths 
painted on paper leaves

while I slept
curling my toes
curling my toes into warm dens of soft places

while I slept
you held and read and breathed
and painted 

while I slept
stretching my legs
stretching my legs into the heat you left there

left there, where you had lain

holding

reading

breathing

painting

crisp paper leaves and cracked bindings
books in bed
blossoms and breaths

while I slept
curling my toes
stretching my legs
warming my chill 

in your absence, in your essence.

© Ashlan Isadore McHugh 2019