Our bodies do not touch but for the hands that caress the warm flesh of your hips. A mirage wraps around us, created from the smoldering heat of our desires. Our eyes lock, and my warm breath brushes softly against your lips. You press them against mine, soft as a sparrow’s down. Our breathing is heavy, strained from the weight of our lust. Arms longingly wrap around your waist, your fingers dig into the muscles of my back, and the fires of our passion melt the clothes from our bodies like wax from a lit candle. I am like a bronze statue of a Greek athlete, a pilgrim to your temple. Your hands run through my hair as I pay tribute to your body with kisses: the tiny lobe of your ear, the crevices of your neck, the gentle curve of your shoulders, and the soft hills of your pleasure. Lightning bugs dart down your spine to your Temple of Venus. The Temple arches from the earth, beckoning this faithful servant south. There is no hurry as I plant a soft prayer with every step across the tanned valley of your stomach. The alter of your temple is surrounded by the perfume of your sex, like the salty mist of the sea’s breeze. What special chants must my tongue perform to open the river gates? No chants… just with a gentleness and patience, as a kitten lapping his warm bowl of milk. My goddess awakens. You rise with a smile. Pleased with my faithfulness, you lay me down to rest as you bless my body with your touch. You cover me with your whole being and arouse my senses with the sweet friction of your rose petal skin. As our bodies become slick from the ambrosia of our sweat, you transform into an ocean wave, undulating along my shore. With a cry, you mount me – I am my goddess’ divine stallion! We gallop towards the sky at a frenzied pace, impatient to reach the place beyond the clouds, where legend says the sun will fuse goddess and pilgrim as one. We break through. The sky quakes as we are blinded by the light, fused into one at the moment of our ecstasy. And, with a trembling satisfaction, you burst into a hundred flying doves as I murmur your name – and I erupt from a pleasure so powerful, it would shatter Mount Olympus. Like a blanket of silk, we descend back to earth in each other’s arms. We lay on the grass, naked, entwined, and asleep… in the blissful afterglow of our journey.