Tag: Love and Loss

The Emerald Sea

He walked out on the blowing sands,
And gazed across the emerald sea,
Forgetting all his other plans.

He walked along in ecstasy,
And all his thoughts were with her full.
He thought it all an augury.

From what might come of his heart’s pull,
He did not know, but hoped for much:
A touching pure, and beautiful.

But oft, illusion’s made of such;
He did not know her heart at all:
Buoyed as he was, with phantom touch.

As witness to her siren call
The sea, the sands, and all his thought
Were frames around his lover’s fall

But though much damage there was wrought
At least, these precious moments bought

 

(“The Emerald Sea” – 7-3-2015)

I Once Believed

… in many things.

I once believed in happiness
Before the pain set in;
I once believed that love and hope
Were there to lose, or win

I once believed the old, old songs
About love strong and true:
I once believed in many things
When I believed
In you

 

(“I Once Believed” – 10-8-2014)

Now, When I Remember You

To tell the story of a life
Takes many pages, many words;
To tell the story of a love
Takes every bit as long

The you I saw in summer fields
Beneath an endless weightless sky
The you I felt in tenderness
The softness of your skin, a sigh

For now, when I remember you
There is a novel in my mind;
The beauty of your memory
Is always young, and brave, and kind

There’s beauty in the world, I know,
But I thought I had lost it then:
You walked into the room, and I
Became the mindfulest of men

But this – this was not me at all
This was all you, and love; it was
A type of wakeful dreaming where
I did not want to wake, because

Your magic was in everything.
If ever a man loved, I did:
I cherished every moment, and
I lay awake at night and bid

The minutes slow their very march.
To lengthen time, our time, so much
As possible; to see your eyes
To stroke your hair, to softly touch

Your skin beneath your summer dress.
To love you there with all my heart;
Your words of warning in my ears
That love is short and lovers part.

A life, my life, what is it now?
It’s just a cold and fading fire
A soon forgotten flickering
Of what was once raging desire

And all for you, my long true love –
Who taught me wonder in the night,
Whose hand I took to cross the bridge
Of leaving off and doing right

The day is closing in, and I
Put down my pen, and rest a while –
For now, when I remember you
I shiver once, and lastly
Smile

 

(“Now, When I Remember You” – 6-25-2015)

Hearts Are Full Of Fields

You know her angry, critical;
A person certain, full of pride –
But once, there was another her;
From time long past and distance wide —

She loved a boy, who was her heart;
But he, at last, his love denied –
He left her on what should have been
The day that she became a bride

So now you see her as she is,
Someone who always seems outside;
Who keeps her distance from the team,
With comments both acerb and snide

But if you knew her as I do –
The love that never died inside –
You’d know that hearts are full of fields
Where flowers grow
That none
Have spied
 

 

(“Hearts Are Full Of Fields” – 6-30-2015)

Stephanie

I still remember Stephanie,
The music of her hands —
The lyric autumn reverie,
The eyes apart from coterie,
That far horizons scanned

In Stephanie, the day stood still.
The seasons passed beyond her will,
And life was brief, but sweet —
The short years she was here with us:
One up- and one downbeat

Then Stephanie, my sober friend –
She let go of the fragile cord
That kept her holy essence penned,
And found her Springtime, in the end.
Her loving life restored —
Her aching spirit
Soared