Old Poem, Age 24 (Edited)

Posted on by Beleaguered Servant

[I had completely forgotten this poem and the event it refers to. At the time, I would not have thought that possible, so hard did it hit me. – Owen]

One night, you gave yourself to me
  the next night you had gone away
I do not understand
I do not understand at all

I still remember how it felt
  to be right next inside of you
I do not understand
I do not understand at all

The wine the bath the touch the kiss
  the hours spent in all of this –
The feel of you the sound of you
  the taste of your intention

One night I do not understand
I still I do not understand
The wine I do not understand
I do not understand

The Dating Blogger (A Cautionary Tale)

Posted on by Beleaguered Servant

She wrote often on intimate subjects;
He obsessed often about them.
So, to his mind,
They were perfect for each other.

And she lived in the very same city!
So, he contrived to meet her;
Fascinated with this beautiful woman
Who wrote so passionately about
Enjoying physical relations with men —
Sex without relationships.

So, he did meet her.
She was polite, but, most definitely,
Not interested.
He was confused and angry.
How could this be?

Oh, my poor unfortunate friend:
Just because she enjoys dating men,
Doesn’t mean she wants to be with you;
And “Sex without relationships”
Doesn’t mean “Sex with people
You aren’t attracted to.”

The moral of the story
For heterosexual guys looking for
Sex without relationships
Is as follows.

Attractive jerks:
Welcome to the 21st century!
It is all yours.
But then,
It probably was ever thus.

Unattractive jerks:
Sorry dudes.
Life can really suck.

Of course, you COULD
Look for an actual relationship
With a woman
Not based solely on sex.

There is even a rumor out there
The sex in an actual relationship
Is considerably more satisfying.

three blue candles

Posted on by Beleaguered Servant

three blue candles in a row
where she knew she shouldn’t go
in a room of closed desire
smoke now circles ever higher

lying thoughtlessly has crept
promises have not been kept
but she does not care somehow
in the feeling she has now

for the burning justifies
broken vows and sequent lies
as she bobs her pliant head
three blue candles by the bed

A Sonnet on Desire

Posted on by Beleaguered Servant

The way the river must move to the sea,
The way the planet must move t’ward the sun,
The way I am to you, or you to me,
As worlds will circle, rivers endless run –

The call of something born before our birth,
Celestial, yet deep within the earth;
As deep within you, I would, I must be —
The loss of anything like liberty –

The waking into madness in a sweat,
The touch that must be consummated soon,
The truth that turns the wise to a buffoon,
The every-paying, never sated debt —

    The distance that will ever be too far;
    That souls and bodies, souls and bodies are

 

(“A Sonnet on Desire” – 3-29-2017)

To Breathe You In

Posted on by Beleaguered Servant

To breathe you in, and follow every curve
Of you; to take the time that is required
To know each space, and what then best can serve
For all you dreamed of, hoped for, or desired –

To focus on you, into you, in joining;
The rain, a steady noise upon our ears –
No more half-seeing, missing, disappointing —
Together finding asterisk frontiers –

For all that interrupt’s in off position;
No sound except the beating of the rain,
And those we make, those of our own volition –
This time, our own, and this space our domain.

    And then to wake, with sun’s first morning beam,
    To find you gone, and know ’twas just a dream.