For centuries
we have lain like this,
our warmths intermingled,
our hearts beating
the same two-step,
& our breaths
& our limbs
intertwined.

Life after life,
I return to flesh
to join my flesh
to your flesh.
Sometimes I am the woman
& you the man;
sometimes,
the other way around.

It hardly matters.
Flesh after flesh,
our spirits return
to mingle.
Death is no barrier
& life's noisy matinee
where the suburban ladies
cough & sputter
& their programs crackle like kindling
merely goes on & on.

They sit on their deaths
as if they were sitting
on fur coats,
while we touch
for the first time
remembering
the next.