This is how I must be loved

This is how I must be loved.
Bring me mangoes out of season.
Order an orange from China
Or one ancient painted egg.

You cannot be too exotic.

Find me a perfect magenta orchid.
It is the extravagant gesture
I long for.

Make me wear a veil and shawl.
Call me a Spanish whore.
Have me kneel at your feet.
Take me, hard, on the floor.

It is the opulence of love
I crave.

I want a full moon every night,
The wild bath of silver.
Touch me in another language.
Dare invent it,
A geography of the naked.

Surround me with candles.
Bathe me in oil.
Carry me to bed.
Tell me you’re my slave.
Brush my hair.
Beg to kiss my neck.

Whisper my name ten thousand times
Like a mantra, like chimes.
Build me a garden, an arbor.
Love me like I was the woman
Of all your tomorrows.

And no more pulling punches.
No more dress rehearsals.
Love me like I was the final
Princess in the last tower
At the end of the map.

-Kate Braverman