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I
was not quite sixteen
- a fearful child in a god-fearing part
of nowhere.
They taught us to obey.
We learned to pray.
We
learned what was forbidden.
I
learned to be ashamed.
I tried to banish thoughts I thought were
sinful.
I tried to hide but became awkward, shy and foreign to
affection.
I closed my eyes.
Cobwebs gathered to my soul.
I
did not understand why the stranger came from her far-off land to
visit our town;
a glimpse of life unknown: calm, confident exotic
smile, eyes shining,
and all the boys spoke in wonder and admired.
When
dusk sent my friends home
alone I lingered in the half-light
of the wasteland.
Emerging from the gloom, a foreign shape to
my surprise approached me.
She approached me, and she smiled
as if she knew.
We
walked beside the stream,
the town lights twinkling ever fainter
from behind us.
A gentle cool night breeze stroked the trees
and set them all a-swaying
and I swayed too - not due to currents
of the air.
Dance
to a forbidden drum.
Wake, wake a forbidden need.
Reach, reach
through to me, yet forbidden.
Let searching forbidden hands find
hidden forbidden skin.
Coax passion's forbidden flames deep within.
And
beneath the stars we sat down.
She stilled my trembling hands.
And
the heavens dark parted the clouds to reveal the Moon.
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