My feet upon the mantle,
toasty about a foot
from the lacy steel
curtain drawn across
the face of the fire.

Orange flames dance wildly,
flailing hands and fingers
jitterbug, hallelujah.

I succumb,
exhaust the day,
hypnotic brick,
shadows, column heat , , ,

Running water,
harmonic crystals,
surf, persistent breath,
mouths huffing mists,
lenses wiped clean,
soft tissue.

Low-flying girls with kites
run on beaches,
hug endless horizon, pastels
flirt, smiles passed over,
soft kisses on shoulder freckles,
lost in the sweet center,
gardenia, coconut oil.

My toes dig in
deep, hot sand,
my eyes close tight,
the sun coaxed
protozoa to the saline,
behind the ray-bans,
a dance of shadows
there on the inside:

a pas d’une,
a pantomime,
jitterbug,
crazy hallelujah,
flailing violently
backward,
then awake,
but not now.

© Carlos Chagall, 2013