By Ryan Scott Nance

Warm. It can be simply the sun
that has warmed your skin. But it
is certainly not something as far
away as that that pulses up
the edge of your neck. On its way
to your brain, your warm blood
enacts your heart’s primal wish:
to wish; to want; to be; to love.
A fully functioning heart lets
its warmth stream through it.
It beats on the inside of your
lower lip which I feel when my two
lips hold it, each swelling
a decision to want and want more.
Devereau, the warm river system
of your veins, the transport of your
spirit that, like a shimmering gold line
marks the countryside into homelands,
people, languages and cultures, also
carries your future of love and longing
downstream to the port cities of your hands.
With every touch of your soft fingers on
me, I feel your warm blood, delivered by your
heart, infused with the intention and decision you
make everyday: Today I say yes. I am
saying yes to you today.