Melissa Bellanta

To anoint you

You slid from me in a gush, my love

and I held you shuddering
your body glistening:
the holiest, richest

bloodiest moment of my life.

When I think now of those
early weeks, some things are
pared-back, bleak as a desert;
me, a tiny figure
staggering in an unknown expanse.

But at the sight of you then, as now,
my heart was a jet gushing up
like oil
my love for you gleaming black, blood
slippery in the desert sun.

Now, as then, when I see you
my heart wells thick:
gold sticky, olive rich
my whole being unstoppered

to anoint you