With no experience in cartography,

or really even what it meant,

I found myself forging a lover's map

from the touch of your skin

And the sound of whispered moans

that would lead me to a heart

That I would forever call my home.

As we laid for hours

in the comfortable silence that follows

An intimate and passionate encounter,

My fingertips began to glide

gently across every curve and crease

And dip that rested in your alluring frame.

I felt the scar

from that time you fell off your bike as a child,

Just at the edge of your left elbow,

And the blisters that were beginning to form

on the back of your feet

From shoes that looked too good not to wear,

but dug a bit too deep.

And from all of this

I built a mental guide to the shape of you

In the hopes that you

would allow my hands enough time

To uncover every secret

and memory and experience

That built you into the woman that lies before me.