There was once a girl
Whose window I looked
Through, while walking home.
She saw me see her.
We were both shocked,
I by the strange wonder
of her body, her skin
painted in shadows.
I had not seen those curves,
The delicate softness,
On any body but my own.
My reaction, like a flame,
Burnt my insides.
She turned from me,
And I stole away
Tightrope-walking the chain of night.
Originally published November 2008