Steel waves murky
Crashing mercilessly
Rudderless journey
Storm clouds swirl
Thrashing incessantly
Compass needle spins
Homeless; no direction
Captain overboard
Lost at sea
Distress signal
Not received
Terror and frenzy
Prostrate on deck
Knuckles white
Gripping hope
Survival until
Calm and a spot
To toss anchor
Unpromised affection
Physical touch apart
From bedtime or goodbye
Yearning for hands to slide
Around me while doing
An ordinary chore
Transforming the mundane
Loveliness now defined
A breathless connection
Keeping us together
Forever
In rooms or miles away
Memory lending peace
To the dreams unfulfilled
Merely In the giving
Of an unexpected
Thoughtful caress by you
Unmanaged and unplanned
Desire, passion, need
Compelling your gesture
In this moment doing dishes
Back and forth
the two of us
Push, pull
manipulate
Emotional dough
kneaded
A rise then
a punch down
Miraculous
rise again
This shiny
sticky mass
Of unseen efforts
that when pulled
From the heat
reveals a warm
Tenderness encased
in a golden shell
Breakfast with Buse 