gentle beast (?)

beside me now rests a gentleman with matted hair,
his clean shaven jaw-line hidden under a fresh growth,
lips pierced in shallow breaths.

as he sleeps i remember him--my deviant beast--
strictly tasting his way, suspending the vortex of his serpent tongue
over the pray of his ignoble venture;

until the light from the bathroom flickers,
the clink of the bulb interrupting him from his ritual.

then, naked and panting, breathing his stench into my pillow,
his chest rising and falling like a sleeping dragon,
i curl around him, soaking up his sweat.