I.
When I was a little girl my mother
would rock me to sleep with tales of
princesses rescued by the might of a
true love's kiss
I, from then on, associated lips with liberation
and an unchaining of souls from Earthly tether
II.
I cried when I discovered that the feeling
of Mother Earth's brown and wormy skin
was not so nearly as comforting as the
smooth porcelain of hers
My lips remain firmly planted
in the dimples of Gaia's cheeks while
the boys who introduced us speed away.
III.
I remember girls my age
Flocking to the haven of hot beaches for
the chance to be "sun kissed"
When I looked at you
I surmised that with your golden
hair and the Fire in your eyes
You must not have been kissed
by the Sun, but born of it
And so I, too, felt the mad
desire for my skin to be
heated and smothered by
the lips of the Son.
IV.
My third kiss was shameless and sloppy.
Drunk and careless with fatigue
my liquid courage gave me the strength
to say
"I love you"
And as a cold and metallic mouth spilled
out its alcoholic rage into your ears
That all is fair in love and—
well, I hope you find these lips
desirable.
The lipstick that I wear—I created its shade
myself—was made of melted down promises
and the royal blood of a princess
V.
Patience is a virtue but complacency
must be the worst of sins.
So I won't wait for your mouth to
find its way to mine
I will be my own knight in
flak armor and when I am done
fighting hellish demons that invade my
castle, I will save you from yours
VI.
When you finally kissed me, I expected
the Earth to crumble into eight million
nine-hundred thirty-five thousand and
two hundred pieces. Each for the amount of
minutes that have ticked
by waiting for this moment.
I thought my soul would wrest itself
from the fierce grip of a body too scarred
by the relentless scolding of Father Time.
When none of those things happened
I hope you recall that I kissed you
again and again and again…
I once said that your smile saved me
and I thought your kisses would do the same
You once said I was strong
and then that's when I realized the
Earth did not crack and the Heavens
did not bow because, this time, I
had broken the chains and freed myself.