Those desired cast a spell with their love potion, intoxicating us even at a distance.

Elixir by Candice Louisa Daquin

A yellow-eyed man asked me once 
what it was I favored 
in older women 
I told him 
it’s something in their faces 
the shape of their bodies 
how their bones knit songs 
as if all the years they have lived 
have built a testimony 
to the potency of woman 
I’m weak-kneed in the presence of 
strong women, vulnerable women 
singers, poets, artists, thinkers 
the myriad ways of woman 
how breasts find their shape 
over time 
and colors change with seasons 
hair grows long with streaks of grey 
eyes own brevity 
the smile remains that of a girl 
rendering me hot cheeked 
I feel the purposing of womanhood 
like a blanket 
though my contracted heart cannot 
own more than a singular affection 
i’m not like you, falling in love monthly 
I could count on my fingers the times 
a girl turned my head and my heart 
all the way around 
and when you wear that red skirt 
you know the one 
with the ruffles and the midnight cast
and dip your feet in the river 
the glint of your ankle chain catching the stars 
you could be twenty or you could be seventy 
and I’d lead you by the hand 
back to our tent, among the trees 
all facing the sky in prayer 
and lay you down beneath me 
a lotus opening her mouth 
to the glory of being alive 
with lips like you just ate wild berries 
and a tongue tasting of laughter 
I drink you in 
I drink you in 
the elixir of your existing 
even as we sagged against 
the enormity of surviving 
perhaps it’s that shape I love best 
how well you make enduring 
look 

Without touching by Romantic Dominant

He touches her   
without touching her.  

He holds her  
without holding her. 

He knows her 
without knowing her.  

He calls her  
and her soul answers.