Bedtime

After we ate too much and then drank my magical concoction

– garlic, lemon, honey, cayenne, turmeric, ginger, whiskey, hot water –

the tea I hoped would heal my coming cough,

we lay down,

got comfortable.

So much garlic, I said, beginning to doze.

His slow blinking toward sleep matched mine.

You smell like a steak, he mumbled,

and we laughed, a soft snort and a sleepy giggle. I know, I told him.

I know.

I lay on my side, facing him,

my hand tucked into the fly of his boxers

like it was a pocket.

His fingertips rested against my hip.

Soon, we slept.