[b]i[/b] He parks the car beside a lonely track atop a cliff-face, out of sight from town below. He twists his head to me; a frown collapses fragile confidence. Come back to me, sweet bravery! Don’t let me down in this, the consummation that I need to make me whole. Imagine, once we’ve freed ourselves, and made this little car a lown for just us two… But I’m afraid: my creed and heart are warring over you. I lack the strength that brought us here tonight. I’ll crack and split in two when we complete this deed. To love, but not make love. Is that what God intends? If so, I'll spurn my creed: I nod. [b]ii[/b] Take me: flawed and broken, but given freely. I am yours, and nobody else can have this. In return, I ask that you show me kindness: you’re all I want for. Love can make us foolish and overwhelm us. Waiting’s never easy when lust is mutual. Now I know I’m ready to take this step, I’m sorry I lingered. Wrap your arms around me and hold me tightly: dresses drop in tandem as hands devour. Rose-red lips shall claim me with kisses, moaning filling the bedroom. Fingers trace impossible patterns lightly, urgent touches clothing us both with soft strokes. Lace and silk discarded at last to free us, bare to each other. Kiss me now; consume me in lustful hunger. Press yourself against me until our bodies fuse in carnal pleasures and we are reborn: perfect together. [b]iii[/b] she is beautiful in all the ways that i am flawed. she sheds her robe with grace [right](an imperfect mirror of my own dull struggle with belts and buttons and zips)[/right] and stands before me, bold despite the vulnerability despite the responsibility despite the fact that we are naked in the heart of winter and her radiator’s broken. i am frozen by fear and self-loathing and jealousy and love and hate. i [center]am[/center] [right]torn.[/right] i want her body in incompatible ways: for myself, and for my own. she walks towards me, holding me in place with her gaze. she shows me love [right](but would she still if i were more like her?)[/right] and covers my painfully bare chest with kisses as she climbs on top of me perhaps in this union i can lose myself in her body. i call on her to unsex me here that i may forget manhood and womanhood and all the in-betweens and free me in her pleasure. it’s all i’ve ever wanted.