Love Poem: Prickly Pear

Prickly Pear

Your love, like cactus fruit
its tiny teeth sharp and taunting,
needling the flesh of my soul

you hide behind bold hues
and a spiny point of view,
failing your tenderness

but there's nothing sweeter in nature,
I've tasted its core,
my tongue dribbling succulent sips
of slipped slurs and
sappy sentiments

so I will gather myself beneath moonlight
and pluck petty prickles,
like a woman stupid in love