Fever

Fever arises within you,
sparks fanned to flames
consuming your frame
like tinder
from the inside out.

Sleep offers no quarter,
dreams twisted molten
to hallucination,
your cry billowing
black toward awakening.

I hover above,
wringing the inferno
flame by flame
from an iced cloth,
my forehead kisses
drawing forth the heat
in degrees.

Scott Speck
04/04/99