After the brutal way you departed
after the forgotten goodbye’s never said
after horror’s realization would not go away
after there was nothing left to enjoy
after the laughter fell silent and mute
after the sadness collected day upon day
after the spaces fell hauntingly empty
after the familiar grew distant and dead
after our time together faded far to the past
after the bitter taste of grief stung my lips
after the loneliness mounted unbearingly
after your memory spilled through my fingers too fast
I did not think you could go deaf in the quiet
I did not think sorrow would burrow in so far
didn’t think the screams in my head would turn to riot
nor did I know how deeply this silence would scar
Will you again
be my sweet Juliet
my love for you
still burns hot
drives me utterly mad
you are bewitching
you are by far
the truest love
I’ve ever had
a radiant vision
silken skinned
a translucent
alabaster blaze
torrid
as a teen’s temptation
your body beckons
with invitation
standing here
before me
yearning
my needs are fired
consumed
I’m burning
you must be mine
you will
eternally
my nubile vixen
my dream sublime
oh yes
you are my Juliet
your graceful face
brazen aglow
my fingers tangled
in your hair
I bring your lips to mine
sure — but slow
swept away
I lay you back
on velvet sheets
wrapped in my arms
my eyes aflame
in fetched seduction
I explore
your secret charms
I will be your Romeo
if you let me
I’ll be your last
please — my love — agree
I am always
your potent Spring
here smoldering
on passion’s pyre
lost in the golden light
that folds upon you
soft as satin
silk desire
my fingers trace
your young glistening back
that tempting tapers
to the tender fire
a wonderland
for fingertips
to touch
and tease
and tantalize
such beauty
of unworldly measure
only gods
could fantasize
engulfed
I explore
your quivering body
love-inflicted
soul-addicted
you’re beautiful
as any Juliet
so luscious
heavenly grand
a divinely-pleasing
sculpted vessel
brought forth
by Aphrodite’s hand
a vision
as to hypnotize
enticing in the candle’s flicker
fondled by my hungry eyes
with willful hands
of pleasured probing
I wrap slender waist
then slowly slide
‘cross pleading hips
of sensuous rise
to fall
into the fiery folds of eros
sculpted
from the charms of Venus
’tween dual swells
of timeless myth
that writhe
in throes of pure desire
atop two lithe
and lathen’d stems
drawn by pleasure’s angels
tempered in their sacred fire
come my Juliet
be forever mine
I am your Romeo
until end of time
we knew they’d come for us
never let our sweet love be
not two so different
real love is never free
before we let
Azrael take us
let us die
to pleasured lust
‘til our hungry souls
are sated
’til my passion’s seed
has turned to dust
let our wanton
carnal flames
blaze ever bright
to roar ecstatic
not be rebuffed
H ere in the Pacific Northwest, there is a rosy-red colored, rich cacophony of glorious song birds: the House Finch, Purple Finch, Red-breasted Sapsucker, and the Red Crossbill, along with songsters of other feathers, like the Western Tanager, that fill the mountain fresh breezes with their trills, tweets, twitters, chirps, and cheeps — the sweet sounds of spring! It perks the ears to bring a smile, and stirs happiness of the heart — lifting one’s spirit out of the doldrums of winter.
The sweet refrains ignite a crisp aliveness, so that all, no matter the age, health, or circumstance, feel the spark of gratitude for simply being alive. The belief that, in spite of it all, possibility still abounds, and life may truly be better. Poets and minstrels, down through the ages, into our present time, have equated and do equate, these lilting arias to the sound of joy — melodies played on the heart strings. Everywhere we go, their beauty spills into our day, brightening our sense of self, and bringing lightness to the world.
the songs of birds swell
note by note they spark with joy
igniting spring’s breeze
To the brave people of Ukraine — may your song play on forever!
Photography by Joseph Eid
A real pity it is to say…
but a person can lose their home
a person can lose their fine clothes
a person can lose their fancy trappings
a person can grow old, losing their vitality
and all that must be met
with courage
with kindness
a gentle greeting
understanding
and proper aid
even a brave person — to lose their *music
such a person would lose their joy — their mind
it would be the dark death of their verve their soul
and that would prove to be the true tragedy of their life
A voice in Ukraine sings out – may it be just one in a chorus of courageous resistance!
* Music means many things — faith, belief, courage, optimism, joy, sanity, strength, humility, memory, wonder, creativity, sorrow, forgiveness, celebration, soul, patience, hope, love — this, and much much more, is all one’s “music”! All the things above and beyond the material. Music of the spheres.
*ANSWER: it’s the “future”. You can’t catch it. Even if you think you did, you’d find what you are holding is the present, the future has already got ahead of you. If you should happen to catch and stop the future, guess what — what you got is your death, then you definitely got no future. Truth is, the future is never quite what you thought it to be.
Dad managed my high school hardball team. I managed both my sons after he passed. This coming summer, my surviving son will again manage my grandson, this time in his first year in Little League — and so it goes.
Inspired by Sanaa’s “Christina Georgina Rossetti” prompt from 4/11/22.
My life’s focus — only my own
not giving thought that I might share
now foolish me I am alone
the path back home has overgrown
oh how I long to be back there
you were unselfish with your heart
now I see certain I was blind
I tore our tender love apart
ungrateful fool — I did depart
dreaming there’s better I could find
please my love — please now hear my plea
desperately I call to you
my empty life has turned on me
its seduction was trickery
in my life — you — were what was true
talk what you please of future spring
and sun-warm’d sweet to-morrow
when shunned love won’t heed your calling
and you’re fickle heart is rightly breaking
it is the loneliest of woe
The moon sets
in pre-dawn’s soft glow
as comes the fire
of day’s first light
carried confidently
by the lantern bearer
to lead us out of night
to chase ashened dreams
and welcome morning
morning’s a feeling
a wonderful healing
the sunlight revealing
all darkness was stealing
from our sight
from our heart
in this night
as we rise
we fix our eyes
on the dawning
knowing
miracles are possible
our hearts spawn a melody
to carry us through
until twilight
bids the day adieu
but as sunlight’s chorus swells
morning spreads its magic
When the fire of love
flickers dims and dies
and a shadow falls
deep in darkened eyes
hollow words of love
become but empty lies
that open door
of a tender heart
has swung quietly closed
round the fragile part
what once so sweet and effortless
can never again feel right
and the fall begins so near unseen
as though but the passing of night
until one morning no dawn breaks
no tenderness nor warmth awakes
and a loneliness encircles slow
you seek the one that you’ve loved so
she’s here arms reach
she shares your bed
you roll and turn
then lift your head
you search her face
in the predawn glow
whose eyes these are
you no longer know
you feel no tears
you feel no fight
a knowing rises from this night
sadly it will never again be right
it’s in this painful clarity
you realize
you know
though she’s still here in your bed
her heart
left long ago
~ In the face of the horrors of our times, I chose, rather I need to focus on love for this entire week — then I will wade back into the sewer we call the world these days… but as Scarlett put it, “I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.” for me — next week! ~
We place our dreams in our open palms
so the winds of fortune
will make them soar
we enrich our dreams with the gift of song
so their harmony’s sweet
and their sound is pure
we bestow our dreams the wings of trust
so they lift and carry
to wisdom’s shore
we share our dreams today — and always
so our love will bind them
forevermore
