I feel you
Now still
My beating heart
Faster
As breathing
Becomes sharp
Muscles
Tense and relax
My coarse cheek
Brushes against
The youthfulness
Of your chin
My ear
Rests against
The gentle heaving
Of your chest
Hears the love
Within your breast
As I hold you
In my arms, embrace
Embrasse-moi
There is nothing
between
Us
But everything
In
This
moment
You are everything
I drown in you
Warmth floods me
Temperature rising
I’ve never felt this way
Strong
But trembling
Whole
But breaking
Open
Your lips
Glorious
Ecstasy
My nose
Touching
Your nose
Lips teasing
Electricity
Flows from the tips
Of your fingers
Eyes full of fire
You breathe into me
And I inhale you
Lungfuls of life
Itself
Exhale
You breathe me
In
And in that moment
Holding sunlight
I get a fever at the slightest touch
Knees weak
Struggle to speak
Tongues tied
But you know what I mean
You can read it in my soft
And fervent sighs
In that moment
I feel like
I am one with you
I always do…
And in this moment
As I lay in bed
I miss you
Knowing full well
That just a few nights
Ago
You were in my arms
As we fell asleep
In the afterglow
After writing ‘hallelujah’
With our clothes on
You wrote
A song
Upon my heart
And the melody keeps me going…
You held me
In the early hours of the morn
I felt more loved
Than I’ve done before
And it leaves me wishing for
Wanting, desiring more
It means more to me
Than a million kisses
Your embrace
That tender mercy
Almost saving grace
I’m sure God sent you…
You saw my scars…
Some of them…
You’re the first one to see my bare bones
The side of me that no one knows…
Truly vulnerable
But not scared
Anymore…
We laid at each other’s feet.
Significant, and sweet
You are home, to me
Other, and unique.
You feel like love should
The kind of love I’ve only read about…
And you are so buried in the Saviour’s heart
That I need to know God
To know you…
I thank God I know you…
For your presence in my life.
So every moment with you
Is a holy moment
A moment in which i feel whole
And without using a cliche
Like you complete me
I’d rather say
Its because you see my brokenness
And love me anyway
This boy who’s afraid to touch
But cant keep his eyes
Or hands off you
Finds his lips caught in
The gravitational pull
Of the moon in your eyes
This boy who cries after sex
But yet has to feel any regrets
In panting after you…
You are pure
Like refined sugar
Or honey
Or salt
I can still taste you
On my lips
Still feel the shape of you
Against my mortal frame
Your breath on the nape of my neck…
How I long to hold you again.
This boy who feels
So below
Average
Not good enough
Feels like a man
With you in his arms
How I long
To hear the whisper of your voice
In my ear
In the midnight hour
Feel you near.
I feel you
Still
My beating heart
Calls your name…
Carry my love, oh wind
To my star-eyed love.
Andre Darius Labuschagne is a poet, musician, and pastor from Johannesburg, South Africa. He is currently involved with various church movements – and his theological and philosophical beliefs are reflected in his poems. A recovering drug addict, his poetry also explores themes of mental illness, substance abuse, finding God, and the process of growing towards completeness.