Unknown Spice

One moment you are
empty. And then the flavor

slips across you, quiet
in its first murmur, a white petal

on a still pond — and then
the stroke, dashed along

your tongue’s canvas, pulsing
burst of a kiss and a flame

entwined, a lone sensation
you spend years trying

only to speak, let alone feel
again. Somewhere, it’s said,

you could find it, a glass jar
in a pantry in a dream.