Briefly before dawn,
five planets align—

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.
I wake to the sound of the city’s stirring

underneath your arm,
curled with your body.

Some time in a trance,
I have let you go.

My fingers slide back down your fingers
and fill in the grooves of your knuckles.

My back arches,
sealing the space with your deep

breath.
Blood flows

from my restlessness
colors your lips.

Still as the time,
we

feel the second
stretch into

lightyears
briefly before dawn.