There is a moment when we are lying in bed--our bed--our hearts still pounding in twin rhythms--I cradle you with my left arm as your head rests on my chest, and with my right hand I stroke your hair--softly, gently, cupping the silken smoothness, now tousled from our coupling, like a wondrous darkling snowflake that does not melt.  It is in moments like these that I feel our destinies twining together, moments like these that my heart continually bursts in calm excess, moments like these that I want to last forever.  Moments like these that the mask with which I cover my soul is cast away.

And it is moments like these that frighten me--I feel so exposed.  And yes, that's a wonderful feeling--like standing on a mountaintop as the wet air freezes my beard, preparing for the rush, the exhilaration of the swift ski-borne descent--I am so small compared to the forces around me--and yet I am able to grasp the challenge and venture forth with confidence and trepidation.

So let me lie here with you just a bit more.  The future will bring what it brings.  Sleep now, my dark-locked angel, and I will sleep too.  And let our hearts be one.