When you’ve had the same lover long enough,
You want the same lover in a different body
So that renewal isn’t quite betrayal
Nor the second first kiss a Judas kiss.
You want the same lover in a different body,
But every resurrection requires a death,
And what tastes like a kiss to the tongue of Judas
Can wither the tongue in a liar’s mouth.
If every resurrection requires a death,
What killed your love for the body you had?
The tongue and all its tastebuds blossom lies.
When you’ve lost your one lover long enough,
The tongue in your mouth can’t taste the kiss.
There was one incarnation, and you betrayed it.
A second first kiss is death to the first love.
You’ll die wanting the same love in the same body.
Ed. note: The poem appears in the Spring / Summer 220 issue of 32 Poems. Amit's new book is What He Did in Solitary, forthcoming from Knopf. It can be ordered here.
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