The Women 

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sitting

four rows ahead

                        are large

                        and beautiful.

 

Abundant.

 

The one wearing glasses

            and a hand-knit,

            green,  

            beret

 

rests her hand

on the spine

            of her partner...her fingers,

                                                long

                                                and stretching,

                                                                                    bump

along the trail

                                                of her vetebra,

                                                kneading

through the thin fabric

                                                of her shirt.

 

I am watching

            a conversation.

 

The woman

            in the green beret

            is reminding her partner

                                                of love,

                                                of constancy,

desire.

   

When her partner,

            the woman with the barrette in her brown hair,

            sits up...

                                    she wraps

her arm

                                    across her shoulder,

                                                strong fingers trailing across the smooth, bare skin.

                                                a hieroglyphic of tenderness

                                                            and susceptibility.

   

These women are so bold

            in their declarations...

 

                                    in the gentle way their heads come together,     

                                    the breath of one

                                    mingling

                                    with the breath of the other...

   

I turn my head

            away...

                        grateful

such expression,

 

communion,

 

and a complete absence                                    of fear.