the man called lust

stuck to the roof

of your mouth

lotus and lily pads

the frogs won’t stop

croaking,

and everyone mistakes

you for death;

 

 

it isn’t too inaccurate

a description

because you died to this world

i presume before you were

ever born

mistaking nightmares and shadows

for friends and lovers—

 

 

always yearning for something

you’re the man always

perpetually grasping for straws,

and i saw the feigned innocence when

you looked my way and the hunger

that remained;

but i learned my lesson

 

 

won’t give my heart away to anyone

that doesn’t know that love is

much deeper and lasts longer than the

throaty song of lust and all her

yearning and need

in all your longing you’ve become one of

the seven sins

i always thought lust was a woman but turns

out it’s a man: you.

 

Linda M. Crate is an author, poet, and writer whose works have been published in numerous journals and anthologies both online and in print. She is the author of three published chapbooks and the Magic Series.