Fear's Release

It would never happen again so easily
as now: She hugged close and her breasts were balm,
the warmth of her body and its smell elixir
for the ill coming out of a storm in bright sun.

We reached the top of Snoqualmie
and were headed down the other side of the Pass.
I saw the Trailways bus gone off the road
a moment before my tires failed to grip
the asphalt covered with a layer of fresh snow,
we slid in slow motion off the highway,
I corrected, steering with the slide and the car
left its trajectory toward the culvert,
as though refusing to wait with the bus
for the wrecker, and we were back on the pavement,
she was rigid in her seat, then supple again
as her hand slid between my legs.

We stopped in Ellensburg and ate dinner
in a hotel and we were both happy in bed
upstairs in the room we rented with her Greyhound
return trip refund. I felt her body milk fear
and dread from my loins the way her legs gripped
my hips. I had never loved her so much as then
and her dark eyes glittered, visibly sweet,
such love there I kissed the lids of each eye
softly and slowly so I would always call up
in my mind’s eye the radiance of her delight.

We were spent. We slept. The snow stopped. We left
at dawn and were home by noon. She would work
next day. Ignacio and Gloria
were overjoyed Irene was home with them.

(13 November 2012)

copyright 2012 by Floyce Alexander