Voice in your head

Think of a catchphrase you used to say
And hear your voice peel the words
By my ears ply by tissue ply, careful teeth
Avoid every bite of vowel. I have memorised
The way you like it best, how you enunciate and
Taste the language scalding and fast, so that 
In this silence I can listen to that memory
Like music on the morning radio feebly
Drifting through sleep in the darkness of earthquake
Debris. Longing to hear you makes my heart quiver. 

Without food, imitating chewing will suffice.
The way a foreign language is taught, I repeat your words
Like dried jerky, sweet taste wetting my tongue
Keeping me alive and hopeful the more I chant as
Our lips align through the sound we speak – yes 
It sounds like you – and finally I have closed 
The distance and your searing mouth hurts me, 
The branded slave.