Oh, delicious night-
oh rapturous,
oh ravishing,
oh dark,
oh so dark,
drunken and velvet-eyed,
chamois-skinned,
the night a cloth,
a dark swaddling,
an envelope of comfort-

and I remember the dark of Darwin,
the breathy dark of Rum Jungle
where the poison of light
is sucked from your blood.

The soothing suede of the night
eased me, pleased me,
wafted over me, submerged me.
Oh, dark!
You tourniqueted my heart and sucked
the poison from my blood-
you left me pale and lifeless,
spreadeagled under a tropical moon that was
a sliver of persimmon, only,
enclosing a gummy, black fruit.