Beloved

Sunlight seeps slowly through the curtains, painting the room golden. The bed is warm and the flowers by the windowsill dance with the rhythm of the wind. Beside me, you are an elegant arch of every cliche I could never get enough of––miles of freckled, tanned skin, and jet black hair pillowed on cream-coloured sheets. Eyelash-kissed cheekbones and rouge-tinted lips consume my every waking moment. You breathe softly like summer air; behind your eyelids are starlit autumn skies. You smile sleepily, a crescent moon dimple upon your cheek and my soul erupts into spring. I long for you in the winter, on a deserted sidewalk in the night where I pace like a ghost. I long for you in the middle of a crowded room; I long for you now, my body mere inches away from yours, aching for the shadow of your touch. I long to be in your presence in all your glory and agony. I wish to stay, to live in your home, to have my clothes in your laundry and my coffee in your kitchen. But for now, I will keep knocking at your door: Beloved, please let me in––let me love you.

ABOUT

Alistair Gaunt (they/he/she) is a Filipino queer non-binary poet who was born in Southern Philippines. She is a self-taught writer, with English being her third language. Their writing contemplates the queer experience, violent desires, peculiar dreams, death, grief, and catharsis. He has appeared in the House of Poetry’s Debut Issue, and is currently working on his unpublished poetry collection. They may be contacted through alistairgauntwriting@gmail.com.