Over Madness

A smile so bright
I can only think in clichés
about how I want to
cleanse myself in your soul so clear
and use your name to
form words that haven’t yet been thought.
I want to rhyme you
with everything I love
and everything beautiful
and everything worthwhile.
I have the urge to
throw away everything I’ve known
and say things plainly,
simply and without metaphor
just to make sure you understand
everything I want you to know.

Speak! I tell myself.
Tell her everything
and she will fall into you–
an avalanche of hair
and softness and the delicate
scent of herself.

But I cannot.
My lips have been silenced
by a simple kiss–
a kiss plain and without metaphor.
Just a kiss, to her,
but to me a silence.
A silence which keeps me
balanced over madness and ecstasy.