You took me in on dusky breath,
tasted me, tasted nothing,
gathered by my easy take
that I was oxygen enough
for idle inspiration.

How swiftly my lack became your
lack; my misgiving, your mistake.
Your eyes flashed a baffled
petition as you fell limp in a
thousand different doorways,

cribs, embraces, fits and fields,
but I pressed after whatever it was
I thought to find in the lowest
parts of Cameroon, as foolish in
love as a gas trapped in a lake.