Don't talk to me of your temperance.
Foolhardy, you leave me
an opaque reminder;
a stubborn ghost.

Don't tell me that you don't drink her in
when she crawls in to your bed,
this blinking, dewy creature.
Half-light seeps in through drawn curtains
and you can't breathe for a moment.

How intoxicated you are
that you can't find a breath
through all your carefully placed words.

I hope it feels like drowning.