it’s intimacy in the trivial gestures; it’s the honey stuck
in your teeth, the indirect kiss of citrus. beloved,
the eyelash upon your cheek proposes a finite wish
and your lips graze upon my ear when you whisper, “beloved”
where the tenderness in my chest bears fruit to
a requited love letter, a sentimental notion of my beloved
oh, but love is dead, they had said—but latin tastes sweet
on your tongue. you’re no stranger to dead languages, beloved
from a gentle touch, a single curled peel of a clementine
An outstretched hand, a piece of mine: for you, beloved.
Julien Padillo is a fourth-year Media & Culture major. JP913571@wcupa.edu