Bintan

[expiring_touch]

I stopped and smelt the orchid. Its heated
Fragrance made me dizzy, and goosebumps
Drifted up my arm, cross’d wrists and
down.
I tipped my hat out to the ocean,
Toe-dipping, finger-slipping
between the suns’ slit sands.
Tow away now
Me like one of them, great barges, steady,
my sweat your sweat, steaming.
My skin glows silver -
I am the candle
Not the moth.