LINES AND SPACES

Every hour of mortal life, some lines are crossed
In all our spaces, 
Espionage is a theme perfect for great stories,
Though sometimes the retelling of such histories
Births more questions than answers. 

She guards her heart, she tends the grounds 
Within her, 
Secret plots no one may enter.
But once in a while, an infiltrate will choose her. 

He has his own secret plots, he would rather tell you
Everything exactly as you want to hear it
So you let some walls down, 
Forget the borders between you. 
You should know, if you've watched the movies, 
A true spy will never let his best barriers known. 

Once he is in, he would rather you expect 
That he will always leave. 
When you treat him like a flower, you hold him
Sometimes a little too close,
He cannot bear the pulsing within him,
Something comes alive that he has forgotten. 
He finds his own borders comforting, convenient,
He must always retreat there 
Or flit about elsewhere. 

A long time ago,
Someone left worry lines on his heart,
She drew everything out of him -
Long years used up, spirit depleted - 
Before she left,
Leaving him to deal with empty spaces,
They still echo to him,
He won't be the fool ever again. 

Then she comes along, a kindred someone, 
Something about the way she draws
Those boundaries around herself
So lovingly, carefully, protectively -
In her garden she's her own favourite flower -
Something about her habit of always hiding,
That closing up before she blooms too much,
Makes him hungry. 

The hunter will always prey,
She's now his permanent game.
 
He won't forget his purpose,
He will always cross some lines,
His body will possesses you,
In the moment you speak intimately,
He'll be the errant bird 
Always finding a way out of your orchard,
Always returning, teasing you with his call.  

You long to tend the spaces within him,
Even if he believed somewhere deep inside of him
That you are not going anywhere, you're there
Waiting for his return each time, 
Letting him empty you, leaving burning traces in you,
It will be a while before he unlearns his safety habit - 
This crossing of lines - or makes good 
Every liberty he took in your healing acres.

It will be a while
Before your tending habit is welcome,
Before the spy chooses his home. 

Or so you dream,
Telling yourself the version of a story
Best recounted in these times. 




The Possession of States

You and I, two countries,
These borders between us drawn
Deep, with firm hands, on our soils.
Some days we stand holding rifles,
Always threatening in our poses,
Unbending in our own positions. 

I talk of love till you run away,
You talk until you know
I have begun to open, 
And when I've opened wide enough,
You will do the unforgiveable,
You will cross my border, 
You simply cross over to this side. 

Your impudence can melt me. 
For a time it will be like we're old friends,
At home in each other's warmth,
You'll hold me and I'll feed your hearth
With vehement zeal, you'll stay
Until I recall every promise broken
Since we first held hands.

I have a need to speak of them,
Those wounds are mine to possess
To nurse and highlight in times you hint
You may leave very soon. 
I have a million intractable questions,
You are a quagmire of explanations
I cannot buy - 
Because you do not know the reasons why
You cannot stop this habit of possessing
Only to always pull away. 

When you're gone, I rage,
I hold on to a reason I find plausible -
You are incorrigible, downright dreadful.  
But no sooner has the spirit cooled, 
I am ablaze once again, 
Remorse is too burdensome an asset. 

I wish I could stop talking.

And that one day, in the stillness,
You will decide to stay on my soil,
That you will defect, 
So there'll be no borders between us. 

Then each morning, we trace with our fingers
Some strokes that endure, unseen to all,
While they smoulder on our flesh, gentle and long;
We return to the same fireplace to draw more lines -
Such possession as is delightful wealth -
A holding of someone, two souls tied together. 
Two countries can feed each other, 
We can forget stubborn boundaries.