Kiss Me Like You Miss Me

By Muriel Palanca

Baby!

I’ve been waiting for you all day…

Longer than that, but I’m keeping busy:

circling the earth and warming other people’s beds,

living in hostels while aching for home,

looking for you and finding myself

in dancer’s pose on a cliff in Goa,

wearing the same clothes for ten days in a row.

The rainforest broke me, but not before the mosquitos did.

Never again.

Most evenings spent with friends between my legs,

partners choking or passing guard,

thrusting hips and shrimping out,

my will to bend stronger than my urge to cease.

I’ve spent hours with Peruvian stray dogs,

reading in plazas and high as the Nepalese mountain

I shit on while being eye level with a cloud.

Every Greyhound up the coast of Australia

and evening train across Europe

bringing me closer…

I found you

at the bottom of a well in my darkest hours.

I saw the firework of a match flame while

the shaman sang of birds, my soul a glowing goodness.

You are here, always here.

Life is simple: It’s passions, people and time.

Mine is filled to the brim with whims and wandering.

If you want a happy ending, here I am.

They don’t teach this in Balinese spa school

But everyone wants one.

So, come here!

Kiss me,

like you miss me.

I’ve been waiting for you all day.

And I’m so glad you’re finally home.