It's in your bones.

Even on the hot and sticky nights
we tend to need at least a sheet
covering our bodies, a thin linen layer
between the world and us at our most vulnerable.
Try and sleep naked on a bare mattress
with nothing to wrap around yourself;
it's close to impossible, sober.
There've been studies conducted that prove all this.
We're an insecure species.
Sue us.
It's not entirely our fault.

It started early with the lining of the womb.
Then as children we'd pull the blankets over our heads
when the eyes glowed in our closets
as if that precious cotton
would save us from the knives, the claws.
And now, as young adults still feigning sea legs
we have the same latent yearning

though tonight, despite all the claims I've just made
about that deep-down need for a woven barricade
I couldn't help but toss it off with this new heat and
then, you see, as always, there was this girl...
but we've had enough science for one night.

The safe word is "Forever."