to set my lips upon your tenderness once more
to breathe the breath you have only taken
                                                                 and still hold
to brush my fingertips against your fingertips
        and fall
into your shadow        marvelling upon your rouge
halo ignited by the sun                       i should die

ANDREW LAFLECHE is an award-winning poet and the author of Ashes, No Diplomacy, Shameless, A Pardonable Offence, One Hundred Little Victories, On Writing, Merica, Merica, on the Wall, and After I Turn into Alcohol. He is editor of Gravitas Poetry. Lafleche holds a Master of Arts in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Gloucestershire. He lives in the Ottawa Valley.