Ecstasy

by Seth Jani

Like everyone it’s love I want,
Stepping out this cold December evening
Into the perishing light of winter
Finally revealing the jutting movements
Of my heart
Which all day have been hidden
Beneath countless layers
Of cotton and fleece.

I walk the gray canals of the city
Certain that every stranger
Is equally embarrassed
By his unruly longing,
And that any second
Great crowds will bubble forth
Fed-up with the facade
And that in sudden disregard
Of our historic purity
We will come together
Swept of every office
And breathe out
In one hot junction
The secret hunger of our lives.