after the Oxford English Dictionary
To feel the loss of. To miss. To need, require.
To wish, desire, and related senses. To desire
a presence. To desire that (something should happen).
To desire that (a person or thing should undergo
some action). As in I desire that you run your fingers
through my tangles. Trace my chest, connect
my moles. Ask me about the scar tissue
on my knee, the silver line through my pinky,
the word still carved into my thigh. Tell me
you like my hands, despite their size,
despite my fingers that bend all the way back.
I want you to come here. Come find the fire
in the crook of my neck. Let’s drink
each other like water while the state turns to flame.
Don’t deprive me of your touch, the one thing
I don’t want to be free from. Don’t leave me
not to have, to be without. To lack. To be deprived of.
To be free from. To be absent or missing. To lose.