Carnal Beasts - Dec 2 2021

 

Carnal Beasts

Dec 2 2021

Avert your gaze.

Direct eye contact

will be taken as a threat.

And they can smell fear,

the whiff of sweat

with its sour edge

of fright, panic, dread.

Nor do they mate face-to-face.

Do not linger,

basking in the afterglow

and talking softly into the night.

Or look deep into the well

of each other's eyes

and lose themselves,

hoping to be welcomed in

where words are superfluous

and two singular minds meld.

But still, we are animals,

carnal beasts

driven by lust and greed and jealousy.

Still, we feel the heat

       . . . resist and relent

                 . . . imbibe each other's scent,

with every breath

actual molecules

entering into us

and becoming part.

Yet even the fiercest carnivore

is gentle with its mates,

sheathing lethal claws

and biting playfully.

So which animal are you?

Will you make love, or have sex?

Lust, breed, rut,

sate your carnal hunger?

Or will you whisper sweet nothings

into her ear?

Undress her slowly,

clumsily unbuttoning

and fussing with her clasps.

Then snuggle, nuzzle, clutch,

hugging and touching

with your hands and lips and tongue.

Bodies embracing

and eyes engaging

and boundaries melting away,

until you breathlessly surrender

transcending time and space.