Dark Chocolate

Ah, this bittersweet life
that so teasingly drives me insane,
pushes joy through bitterness
to glory,
leaves me wrung out dry,
indecorous and somewhat lame.

Such dreams awake me at night,
such sweet exchanges
to my knowledge have never occurred
except with people
I knew from a previous life.

More alive than I ever have been,
my joy encrusted
in sorrows that are always cast darkly,
as if inclining toward death.

Yes, I am addicted to life,
this mad, irrepressible express
that is sweet as honey from a wound;
as mysterious in roundness  
as the moon;

as delicious in the mouth
as dark chocolate
on which I am giddy as a loon.