the restless ticking of an unrelenting clock
takes the quiet from my mind, as these
thoughts hover, thick as humidity,
upon my skin
with no distraction from the doldrums of
decency, i waited for you,
in the naked heat, so that you might liberate
my soul from the pain-if just for a short time-
but you never came
and I was left staring into the slow drip
of time…