Fifteen minutes, in effortless passing;
In that time; In this time, they do not stop
or consider the weather of lovers
the movement of molecules;
They swap atoms in protozoan desperation;
In single-celled frenzy, to forget the next
time that fifteen minutes
will impose its fracture
on their upstanding self-posession.

What seems a kiss,
in fifteen minutes becomes
military,
an order,
as though its completion will
offer completion at all.