THE DAY I KISSED YOU

feet against the sand
with water lacing our toes
and painting the skin of our legs
as we sat beneath apollo's gaze
your hand slumbering next to
mine, fingers caressing fingers,
stomachs bare and of the youth
whose muscles are flimsy and yet to
bare the grace of the gods
the best of greeks;
our silence was settling
and accompanied by the wind.

you turned to me,
patroclus,
eyes of honey wide and clear
you looked upon the curve of my
cheek and the seaweed of my hair.
you stared at the grass of my brow
and the boats that marked my skin.
you wished to see me fight once more
achilles, the best of all kin.

"fight for me, and only me."
you dared to meet my gaze,
for you, an outcast
and me, a prince
we met in a heated craze.

my mother watched from afar
drenched in the oils of the sea.
she saw the grazing of our lips
and snarled at the foundations
of our growth.

i felt her there,
gaze upon my skin,
the smell of the sea pungent
in my nostrils.
your hair of the earth
and honey eyes
crinkled in concern
and worrying demise.

here we were,
somewhere near thirteen,
my heart alive
but my skin crying,
for my mother watched
with her disappointed gaze
and her disapproval
i could not dare to ablaze.

so i left you there,
your gasp like the wind
disrupting the silence
of our youthful things.

"you are not worthy of him."
my mother said.

you did nothing
but nod your head.

you were only thirteen yet you were the bravest person i knew.