In the midst of telephone calls,

mail delivery,

employees stopping at my door,

messages from the boss

faxes and e-mails with

Urgent, Please Handle,

Must Reply,

I thought of your smile

… and escaped.

Caught in the machine of

five o’clock traffic

locked into the pattern

of slow-moving gears,

stop and go, stop and go,

road anger and angst,

tail lights and traffic lights,

I thought of your touch

… and escaped.

The frenzy of housework,

an all-day chore, compressed

to two evening hours,

consumes and overwhelms

an exhausted soul,

shopping, laundry, dinner,

the routine, day in, day out,

yet I think of your eyes

… and escape

… to your arms,

open at the end of the day,

comforting, loving,

from friend, to partner, to lover,

urgent, please handle,

stop and go, stop and go

consume and overwhelm,

… an escape from

everyday to ecstasy.