Since Calgary

My lips are ringing with you

my mouth still tastes
of your timid tongue
and my face tingles
with the delicate trace
of your peasant fingers
their restrained movements a message,
part apology, part promise, part regret

But you pushed back from the bed,

left me softly
in the flannel pajamas
we never threw to the floor like a challenge

left me slowly
in this aching skin
that can barely contain my blood

All that separates us here tonight,
unlikely guests
in the house of a common friend,
is a jealous, squeaky floor
and a trail of footprints to a room so close
I can hear you turning under covers
like a question asked again

All that separates us now, since Calgary
is another man,
and an empty husk of time
that will never hold you again