Venice, Italy / March 2019 (Poem)

Venice, Italy / March 2019

saltwater and roses in the air / honey gelato on our tongues / you kiss me and I taste caramel / sticky sea breeze and the ocean lapping beneath our feet / there is something romantic about living on the surface of the water / there is something romantic about living in a real life painting / sunshine makes the city glow, you look into my eyes and I know you can see directly into my heart – it’s yours / remember that kiss we shared under the golden cherry blossoms? / the gondola ride at sunset seemed like a dream but I looked at you and I realized that this was my reality / you make my dreams come true / nighttime falls and we get lost in the city, running through the alleyways / the streetlights shine like stars and the moon is full like an orange / I feel nervous so you hold my hand / you make me feel brave / our hotel is just over the bridge and over the bridge and over the bridge and over the bridge / there are 403 bridges in this city and I want to cross every one with you, if only we had the time / we come back to the hotel and collapse on the sheets / I look up at you and your skin is softly glowing in the light of early evening when the sun turns purple / you are beautiful / we kiss and it is an Italian Renaissance painting come to life / ivory skin and draped cloth and gentle touches and flushed cheeks and floating cherubs and gasping rapture / we make love the way the canals flow / softly / urgent / rising and falling / in this life, we have to go home soon / in the next life, we live here and walk on the water and forget where we came from / in another, we jump into the Venetian waters and never come up for air / I want to live like this with you forever.