Since it’s Vanlentine’s Day n’all… Wrote this one when Steve and I were still in that tentative honeymoon stage - possibly for our first Valentine’s day together… sigh….

Badger

To begin with, you were everywhere;
back of buses, bottles of beer,
road names, book covers.  Teasing
me with your black and white grey-ness,
I was unable to suss you.

And then you moved closer and
I saw the real pigments of colour
(even once, accidentally,
getting lost in your blue).
And whilst we trailed bookshops
and galleries, I watched your
intellect spark, my palms outstretched
to catch stray cinders;
bowled over by this inter-
play of mind and fingers.

And I long to push my hand down
the inside of your rib cage
(playing you like a xylophone)
pausing at the negative space-
the locus of my origin.
And from this vantage point I’d
like to kiss you inside, the way
only Mister God can do.
Instead I have to trust him-
to love you where I cannot reach,
letting him knot us closer
as I grasp his love for
me, through knowing his love for you.

Oh my beautiful badger boy,
if you’ll take my smallness
(wrapped in tallness) I promise
I’ll not give you your heart back.