they meet and overwhelm each other's senses wholly

Self-centered in the first assault 

upon each other, strangers part 

without regret. Yet by the eighth 

time they meet and overwhelm 

each other's senses wholly, they 

linger hand in hand and halt 

mid-sentence in a vow of faith, 

presaging each may have to pay 

for ravishment as in the realm 

of Hammurabi, heart for heart. 

[Suzanne Noguere {1947- } 'The Casual Lovers', from Whirling Round the Sun]