“i chew you up and swallow you down”

(originally published on medium on 30/10/24, rewritten for Grapeshot)

i knew you the moment i saw you.

the light in your eyes, the pulse in your veins, the skin of your stomach...

you were not my first, but with each bite, i want you to be my last.

your flavour is sweeter than anything i’ve tasted — 

juicier, softer, warmer.

suffocation does not stop those who truly desire,

the hunger grows and growls and waits and prowls.

i could eat you until i was full and then eat you some more.

i am insatiable and drowned, i am devoted, i am yours.

i would swallow you whole, swallow you clean,

but the bite and the tear and the meat between my teeth — 

hold my hand, please, while i make you mine — 

pulse, pulse, pulse against me, skin in skin, blood on tongue.

the fire caged in your bones spreads me wide and long.

you are the body and blood of christ, i am not worthy of you under my roof.

pulse, pulse, pulse against me and my soul shall be healed.

salvation will not come for those who truly desire,

the hunger grows and growls and waits and prowls.

i chew you up and swallow you down;

so long as you lay beneath me i shall never go hungry.