Asking Dimphna's Kiss

Pahn is lying in bed

supplicating his dreams        to dream of

Dimphna         and to ask

her lesbian heart

if she would consider     kissing him

…

Pahn has gone east to visit

Dimphna

has let him stay at her house             He

  has slept on the floor     of a room     that is

only lightly cluttered    around the edges

 

It has the chill of a little-used space   and

 the subdued light     from shaded windows…

…Pahn goes with Dimphna    whom

he feels          he hardly knows

into a brighter room   where

 they look out north through

 the square panes at the yard  

They are standing       in a gentle light            

She is calm and relaxed                      

Pahn thinks                     

that she is being generous            

with her acceptance             

Turning toward her                       

to watch her full and silky face

with the reflection

of her red sweater     catching                

on her lips     he asks               

“Would you ever consider

kissing a man”              

 and

“May I”                   

He asks this

though he knows

her wife

is in the next room    and

he knows      that she has

rejected the aspirations

of other men   

She smiles wide       and warmly 

and for a moment

he thinks         that they are going to touch

their faces together

the coolness of her cheek

and her breath              bathing his chin

and retracting  again… 

 …but they seem to stroll outside

and he goes on to other friends…