Exempt

I am exempt from you,
disillusioned along the lines of your skin
as we trace, fumble together
in the dark, a silver shadow
stretched thinly over the body of the couch.
You speak in rhythm
the roll of my name sliding down your tongue
as you attempt to squeeze me down
between the bite of your lips,
envisioned in the fantasy in which
I never leave.
But in the brief light of the dawn
that shutters through the crack between the curtains,
there's not enough warmth to hide
the empty presence of my body
locked in the fading arc
of your arms.