Hide with me here a little longer in this cradling manger

Hide with me here a little longer in this cradling manger.

Remain with me in the humid gravity of our embrace;

Your wool is warmer and softer than a lamb's.

Silk will wait; the shepherd's cloak's enough for now.

Let hearts be thrones; let brotherhood be a palace.

The slow curl-and-coil of our shifting sand-dune bodies

Is persuaded by the same primordial pull as the spiraling of the stars,

The very same unbearable desire to be charmed together.

Stay with me in silence a little longer, beloved shepherd.

Silence.

Starlight.

Immensity.

Warmth.

Silence. Silence. Silence.