Midnight’s Cartographer

pale earth, dark sky
reversed – these fingertips know
these hills pressed close above me,
the ivory spanned
in plains across my chest

you often leave this night
brighter
in your half shadow.

I shake
as your lungs pound against
these ridges, these ribs
I once drew, plunge
into the hollowness
of each collarbone
waiting to be filled
with my breath

when this land grumbles
in hunger, I know just
when to brace
for the shake.

you are an endless map
to be filled, my love
an earth unalike
to discover

and I: an unmarked night
a sky with mismatched stars

with constellations to give you
moons I wish you’d name