Nicotine and Tequila

We faced each other, lying down
My hand on your hip, your eyes closed
Sleeping
Nicotine-primed windpipe purring
Like the engine idling in the six o'clock twilight
Outside your window

Darkly smelling of tequila and cigarettes
Long and tweedy hair
Curls of Arabic there by your eyelid
You kissed the hand when I coiled it in yours
Wrapped like a warm coal near your face

Waking, without thinking you grab the lighter
And packet of fags, a flick, a drag
Push the hair aside
Trace sign language to the mirror
And the memory I will have
Is cold like yesterday's tea

We had never laid neatly, faced the same way
Stacked open like empty egg boxes
Back taking, belly giving, taking back
Legs collapsed together deckchair style
Touching right down to the toes
No, we had never done that