smelled you out, sensed your heat,
clung to you those long 36 hours,
feeding off your life, drinking you in.

I wonder if my love would spread
like a red rash, stretching from
the nape of your neck to the

inside of your thigh, inside
your defenses? Would my
advances stiffen your neck?

Or would your heart beat
faster? Would your memory
fade, forgetting a time before

I buried my face into your offering,
before I was swollen with the thought
of you? Bring red foxes, opossums,

Guineafowl. Your measures won’t
shake me. Your DDT won’t scare me
off. Nothing more loyal than a parasite.