Christopher Muggridge

How furious the flaming tiger grows
when eager his heart and passion shows
but the bitter sweet of life he knows
is but the hollow smack of death’s black, black kiss.

How sad that he shan’t be missed.

I’ll press you up against the wall
Cradle your face in my hands and kiss you long and deep with passion
If you’ll wrap your legs around me
Clasp your hands behind my neck, pull me in and throw away all caution
Reminding me once again why it is I choose to stay

I’ll lay you out across the bed
Crawl my way up to meet you, brush against you, just to make you tremble
If you’ll arch your back beneath me
Drag your fingers along my spine, leaving traces, forgetting to be gentle
Losing ourselves, trading roles of predator and prey

I’ll chase my fervent kisses over you
Chase them where they lead, hungry for your body and the way it feeds me
If you’ll close your eyes, bite your lip
Anticipate where they’ll land – your breasts, your neck, behind your knees
Surrendering yourself to wherever they may lay

I’ll grip your body by your hips
Let you feel my breath as I gently bite and lick my way across your middle
If you’ll curl your fingers in my hair
Take me prisoner between your thighs and encourage me with your giggles
Barely checked excitement lending fuel to our play

I’ll slide my fingers between yours
Stretch your arms above your head as you welcome me in, I enter you slowly
If you’ll steal my heart with your eyes
Say you love me without speaking, share your secrets with me, for me only
The craving that grows with each new thrust enslaves

I’ll slide my arm around your back
Raise you up and kiss you madly until we surrender ourselves completely
If you’ll bury your head in my shoulder
Hold me tight while your body grows taut and tremors come breathlessly
Collapsing together, our longing for the moment at bay

I’ll be your biggest supporter
Carry your luggage, hold your hair when you pay for too much drinking
If you’ll kiss me on my forehead
Hold my face in your hands and chastise me for too much over-thinking
Reminding me once again why it is I choose to stay

Then I’ll be content in love.

She chose to share her love
At least as much as any cat can
On my lap, her back to me
while she cleaned
Both of us wanting to be here
With only one of us willing to admit it

If she was anything at all
I’d bet that she was a Feminist
Defending bodily integrity,
autonomy, gender equality
Perhaps not species, but still
She carried herself like she lived it

She would sleep quite often
On my lap, my papers, my keyboard
Never really mindful of me
or perhaps in spite of me
When I shooed her along
I did so with jealousy and she knew it

On days she disappeared
Her absence left a space behind
A thing quite odd to me
who had never seen
Her come and go at all
And yet could somehow always feel it

I imagined her escapades
Wild and crazy things in secret
That in truth would be
less for her, more for me
A break from my boredom
An escape without having to live it

She would go where she went
First to arrive, last to leave
At court with the queen
both sipping high tea
Snowboarding in Banff
Not a fan of snow but conquering it

Or Dwarf Tossing in Spain
Aerial Yoga in a Russian gym
Like a wet noodle she
performs a daring routine
Always playing it cool
While loving every minute of it

Off chasing shadows now
She doesn’t come around anymore
Never really mindful of me
I never saw her leave
No time for goodbyes
As was her way, I wouldn’t change it

She chose to share her love
At least as much as any cat can
On my lap, her back to me
while she cleaned
Now the room seems empty
With only one of us here to fill it

If I live my life to be a two,
My one plus another and the other is you
How can I trust the one that I am
When my one is lost before I began?

The one I should be, is half without you
But to be a one, we must join, making two.

So, I give up my half to be you and me
Together we’re one and with time we make three
Another to share in my life lost and found
With my half then made two, into one we’ve passed down.

My half into two, into one, into three
Three who make one from that half that was me.

But like me who was half before you made me one
I’m half once again in our daughter or son
Until they in their turn find another like you
Making them half,
into one,
into two.