After all those years
knowing each other only
in pieces—
lifted shirt, jeans
hung just below the cheeks
for quick cover-ups—

here we are

—side-by-side, painted
onto this riverbank
like a Greek vase.
Backs to warm silt,
breeze slipping over
our resting cocks.
Whole bodies
dappled
with clear, pearl drops.

This isn’t a beginning,

though gnats shuttle air
between our mouths.
We sprawl. We feel
ourselves

dry—what the sky
takes back.