Last Post in Poetry Month–Antonio Machado, I Kiss The Page

Antonio Machado, I Kiss The Page

Antonio Machado, I kiss the page,
put my lips
to your words
as if they were warm

I was alone in a cell
made for a monk
thick adobe walls
kept it cool all afternoon

up the Chama River gorge
by the red rock colossi
I carried your book
in Spanish and English

and overcome
by my love for your poem
I pressed my lips
to a piece of paper

I was embarrassed
although no one saw
as if I’d kissed a baby
I didn’t know in a restaurant

as if I’d kissed
another woman’s husband
or the photograph
of a handsome dead man

Antonio Machado, my love is pure
maybe a bit possessive, maybe a bit jealous
for in that moment when I kissed you
I was your only reader in the entire universe