i wrapped a strand
of lights
around her forehead
a briar halo
of pastel whimsy
neither of us
believed in angels
but i will be damned
if i didn’t hear
the heavenly choir
with each of her
private smiles
the golden peal of bells
that seemed to
accompany my
labored breathing
when her scent
filled the flared nostrils
of my desperate
soul deep desire

she didn’t have wings
but there were scars
in the negative spaces
left over from
the ethereal pinions
that should have
run parallel
along the delicate
curve of her spine
with feathered escape
we didn’t need
to believe in god
but goddamn
she was proof
of a higher power
in the sealed vacuum of
all encompassing love
which ran from my eyes
into the barely restrained hell
behind her own