Rattlers Make Love

We move alike.
We sleep in the same saving grasses,
under similar rocks.
Why not?

What is it about you?
Spellbinding eyes?
The desert mouse halfway down your gut?
Your rough brown scales?
Your brave tangle with that hawk?
The depth of your venom?

That first glimpse of you,
I almost bit myself.
How cute you look when coiled.

We are lovers as much
as anything in this universe.
Can we now sigh
instead of rattle?