Union

Love should be a warm blanket 
not a dance over hot coals, crumbs in your bedsheets 
or threatening glances
And if it is a dance, let it be one 
where I am yours and you belong to me. 
but I only ever felt like property.
A dance is a union 
without begging please respect me. 
A body is a vessel for a soul 
and my soul is not yours to keep
in the name of protection. 
For someone who speaks so highly of permission 
you ignore that it is given or not given,
not a gift, an exchange. 
For someone who longs for union,
your actions betray your true intention, possession. 
I am not a house fire, a flame to be extinguished, 
I am kindling, flickering. 
I have so long to wait to have a body that you never touched, 
let me be a fire that you would regret pouring water on, 
let me dance, 
let me dance my way into a union that meets me where I need to be met 
instead of breaking my bones to fit in your bed.