P O E T I C S
The Poetry of Michael Langston
THE COLLECTED POEMS:
(1) Epigram for the Battlefield
(2) Day to Night
(3) On the Death of My Grandfather
(4) Variance
(5) Morning Comes
(6) Passing Outdoors on a Summer Night
(7) Existence
(8) A Variation on a Theme by Moses
(9) Lone Stanza to Nature
(10) Somnolence
(11) A Wish
(12) A Minor Prelude
(13) On Awakening One Morning
(14) Forever Contained
(15) Adam's First Words
(16) Road to Nowhere
(17) Our Past
(18) Reply to a Curse
(19) Love and Shyness
(20) Love Comes
(21) And Then
(22) There More Real
(23) Where Once You Were
(24) Summer Night
(25) Transience
(26) Sometimes When You Look in His Eyes
(27) Since You Are Gone
(28) Said of Love
(29) Epitaph
(30) I Suppose They Weren't Really Lies
(31) Self Portrait
(32) A Longing
(33) My Fondest Desire
(34) Nights with You
(35) A Pleasure
(36) Divorce Poem
(37) Spring Dance
(38) How Do I Know?
(39) My Beloved One
(40) Good-bye Poem
(41) My Remembrance of Thee
(42) Together
(43) In All the World
(44) This Day
(45) Perchance We've Met
(46) A Broken Date
(47) In Future Tense
(48) My Heart's Condition
(49) After the Fall
(50) These Three Things
(51) To Begin Again
(52) Still
(53) No Words Can Come
(54) What Goes Around Comes Around
(55) Love's Paradox
(56) Metamorphosis
(57) Wasted
(58) To My Unseen Love
(59) Bach's Music
(60) Our Forgotten Love
(61) The Decadence of Modern Art
(62) My Secret Love
(63) To Sara
(64) To the Pseudo-Christians
(65) Directionless
(66) I Would Board the Titanic
(67) From My Dream of You
(68) My Wish Tonight
(69) My Desire for You
(70) Your Dear, Sweet Letters
(71) My Consolation
(72) Obscurity
(73) Frustration Superhighway
(74) Marooned
(75) The Night Before Christmas
(76) Never Far
(77) Only You
(78) No One More Real
(79) The Wind Speaks Your Name
(80) In My Beloved
(81) Let Me Stay
(82) Long Ago I Saw the Sea
(83) Ever Farther
(84) You Are the Best
(85) Near to You
(86) You Have Touched Me
(87) Heaven
(88) The Beauty of Your Hair
(89) Three Little Words
(90) With You
(91) White Clouds
(92) Lost to Me
(93) A Really Good Friend
(1) EPIGRAM FOR THE BATTLEFIELD
About the men who here lie dead,
Their raging, warring battle through,
One sure thing can there be said:
They'd better things to do.
(2) DAY TO NIGHT
Light recedes behind tall trees;
The evening sun is set.
Daytime sight and color flees;
The night will soon be met.
The sky receives the night's soft breeze;
Its veil of blue is lifted,
Revealing skies that set minds free.
A veil again is lifted.
Sense now spans the distant stars;
The day has passed to night.
The world leaps out from short to far
As if by gaining sight.
Sounds abound in dark and grey;
The quiet of day is broken,
Revealing thoughts no words convey:
Forever kept unspoken.
(3) ON THE DEATH OF MY GRANDFATHER
The setting sun tomorrow rises;
The summer's green each year renews.
While some things change to different guises,
Nothing in nature we chance to lose:
The moon each month in thirty days
Returns to its each separate phase;
Water lost falls back as rain,
And grass if cut grows high again.
Such things as these did nowhere meet
An end for us to see;
The stars, the same, alike repeat:
What is...can't cease to be.
And if some things appear to die,
Their different guise escapes the eye;
Each thing thought gone, not noticed, stays
As does the moon...in darkest phase.
(4) VARIANCE
The flatness of water suggests itself all over:
In rivers, in puddles, in lakes, in seas...
All over...over and over.
And the world is at variance with the flatness,
All around...around the water:
In hills, in slopes, in fields, in trees
That surround...surround the water.
(The thinness of air is different from both.)
The blue noonday sky projects itself downward
With the greenery of summer at variance with its blueness.
The movement of insects disturbs the still twilight.
The dance of the fireflies is revealed in the moonlight
By the darkness of night at variance with their radiance.
Above, the stars vary with the black silence.
(5) MORNING COMES
Out of darkness into light,
On to daylight from the night,
Passing by where shadows stay,
Nothing stands but in its way.
Shadows fade and softly go;
Morning comes...and slowly grows.
(6) PASSING OUTDOORS ON A SUMMER NIGHT
Passing outdoors on a summer night,
Past the unnatural world of man's creation,
Entering the company of nature's various forms
Has with it, always, a sense of placid contentment.
Quietly sitting, I hear the lessons of silence;
Around and before me, the teachings of darkness:
Away from striving, merely being;
Away from thinking, only knowing
A sense of perfect enlightenment...
Not to be found elsewhere but in nature.
(7) EXISTENCE
The wind blows...
and everyone knows
the air
is there.
(8) A VARIATION ON A THEME BY MOSES
In the end, Man destroyed himself and
the earth.
2 And the earth was empty, and without
life; and stillness was upon the face of
the dust. And the spirit of Death moved
upon the face of all the world.
3 And Man said, Let there be life: but
there was no life. And the evening and
the morning were the last day.
4 And it happened that when Man had at
last subdued the earth, and had brought
down his dominion unto every living
creature, there came a time when each
perished; even unto the last of them:
5 Great whales, and every creature that
moveth, which the waters brought forth
abundantly; grass, and herb yielding
seed, and tree yielding fruit; fowl that
may fly above the earth in the open
firmament of heaven; the beast of the
earth, and cattle; and every thing that
creepeth upon the earth:
6 Till the last had passed, and all
were gone, that only men and the rocks
of the ground should be left.
7 And Man watched and comprehended not.
8 And Man said, Let us make earth in
OUR image, after OUR likeness: and let
us have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and
over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth.
9 So Man created earth in his own
image, in the image of Man created he
it; towns and cities created he them,
and all things that hath not life: and
every nonliving thing that moveth upon
the earth.
10 But every LIVING thing was destroyed
which was upon the face of the ground,
both man, and cattle, and the creeping
things, and the fowl of the heaven; and
they were destroyed from the earth.
11 And all flesh died that moved upon
the earth, and every man:
12 All in whose nostrils was the breath
of life, of all that was in the whole
land, died. And nothing remained alive:
all they that were on the earth.
(9) LONE STANZA TO NATURE
All around, though seldom found,
This natural world resides;
And when at last by chance it's found,
All our cares subside.
(10) SOMNOLENCE
The clock ticks.
The light shines.
A door slams.
The wind whines.
The hours pass.
The day goes...
It's bedtime now;
Take off your clothes.
Let darkness come
And sleep descend.
Dream of flowers,
Rain, and wind,
Of ages gone,
Of times to come,
What never was...
What won't become.
Lie in still and silent form;
Let outward darkness be.
Become the flowers of your mind
Within the black infinity.
Create the sun, the moon, the sky!
And inward color be.
Flowers growing, there to find,
In the darkness see.
(11) A WISH
I wish I were a child again,
Could pass the way from now to then.
I'd view the world as it was before,
As it ought to be, as it is no more;
And all of time could pass me by
And leave me there...and go and die!
(12) A MINOR PRELUDE
To a fish...
a lake
is an island.
To a fish...
the land
is the sea.
(13) ON AWAKENING ONE MORNING
I think I could lie and sleep forever,
Forsake the world and its light of day,
And enter upon the darkness of an eternal night;
Let the sounds of wakefulness at last disappear
Till only silence remains;
And consciousness gone and thought passed away,
Fall into the abyss of a deepening sleep...
Until sleep becomes as death;
Existence extinguished, all life put out,
Become the nothingness from which all things arose
And to which everything must pass:
To awake no more to see
The glaring light of another day.
(14) FOREVER CONTAINED
My mind is a prison...
where my spirit lies
confined.
It seeks escape...
but is forever contained;
It looks for rest...
and finds none;
It seeks to know...
but is kept from knowing;
It longs for peace...
but none comes:
there in darkness,
apart from love,
held by chains it cannot break.
(15) ADAM'S FIRST WORDS
I am. I
hear. I
see!
I touch. I
feel. I
be...
(16) ROAD TO NOWHERE
With all my love
going one way
and with nothing
coming back,
this one way
hopeless highway
leads to nowhere;
your love I lack.
With all my letters
going one way
and almost nothing
written back,
this one way road
to nowhere...
leads to nothing;
I'm turning back.
(17) OUR PAST
the thing most
irrevocably lost;
what dies...
leaving only memory
in its place,
which itself then
quickly fades...
and in the end
leaves nothing
(18) REPLY TO A CURSE
One who is borne
On angel's wings,
Who can ascend at will
To such heavenly heights
Need not fear
Such ghastly demons
Confined in the depths
To perpetual night.
(19) LOVE AND SHYNESS
They'd now and then exchange a glance;
And when their eyes did meet by chance,
He'd turn and look the other way,
Not knowing what to do or say.
And she would do the same thing too
As if to say, I don't want you,
Would look away...but only too
Not knowing what to say or do.
(20) LOVE COMES
The light shines...
and imparts reality
to all things;
The sun rises...
and out of its brightness
the world is born.
Love comes...
and into darkness
new light it brings;
You came to me...
and from our love
my life is formed.
(21) AND THEN
You gave my life to me
By loving me
And then...
Took it away again
By leaving me.
I gave myself to you
For whatever you might do,
Leave or stay.
To keep or throw away,
I'm yours.
(22) THERE MORE REAL
You are gone...
and exist for me
as only memory.
I am here...
but back there too
still there with you,
and there more real
than here, I feel,
for there I live
while here I'm dead:
buried in loneliness;
to back there led.
(23) WHERE ONCE YOU WERE
Empty space
fills the place
where once you were.
Beside me there:
the empty air,
where once you were.
The space and air,
your face and hair,
are with me there
where once you were,
and for your touch
I loved so much:
a soft and gentle breeze.
(24) SUMMER NIGHT
A warm and windswept summer night
Fills the world with its pale, dim light;
The branching trees surrounding I
Eclipse dark portions of the sky;
Their dancing shapes upon the eye
Sway and sigh.
While in my mind the past I see
In stilled and silent memory:
A fallen snow, the barren trees,
This place the way it used to be.
All dull and indistinct are they;
The color of the snow is grey,
Now having less a presence there
Than given to the summer air.
Yes, dull and indistinct they are,
Absent and removed so far:
The fallen snow, the barren tree,
And love's cold and distant unreality.
(25) TRANSIENCE
A car approaches
along the darkened road,
Its headlights beaming,
Giving a transient
lighted existence
To the trees that
inhabit the yard.
It passes,
And faraway seeming,
Leaves them again
to darkness
And dreaming.
(26) SOMETIMES WHEN YOU LOOK IN HIS EYES
Sometimes when you look in his eyes
And say, I love you,
Sometimes then remember too
That other person you once said it to,
Who...
Far away and forgotten,
Somewhere now sits and cries
And has no other eyes
But the stars to look into...
Holding close in his mind,
There forever, and for all of time:
The memory of you.
(27) SINCE YOU ARE GONE
My love for you is a thing that lives on
As surely as do I,
Holds to life, wants to live,
And doesn't want to die.
Inside me there its life I spare;
It binds itself to me
With so close a tie that this love and I:
One and the same are we.
You are gone, and my love living on
Yet binds itself to me,
And with so close a tie that both it
And I...
Die together you see.
(28) SAID OF LOVE
Standing alone...
under the dome of night,
gazing aloft...
into the immensity of space,
looking far away...
into the stars above
says of loneliness,
says of distance
what once your face
and eyes so near
said of closeness,
said...of love.
(29) EPITAPH
Where the sun goes at nighttime,
And the snow stays in summer,
Gone there for ALL time,
There SHE stays...forever.
(30) I SUPPOSE THEY WEREN'T REALLY LIES
I know you weren't really lying
When you said those things to me:
"I'm not giving you up for nothing."
"You mean more to me than anything."
At the time you said them,
They were true:
"I love you so much."
"I love you."
"You're so precious."
"You're my world."
"What would I ever do...without you?"
But your feelings changed (so you went away),
And you did what you thought you had to do.
You couldn't help it.
I understand...
"You have a future with me if you only knew it."
"Someday I want to have your kid."
"We're the same as married."
"I'm hanging on to HIM."
"God, I love you!"
(31) SELF PORTRAIT
anger, impatience,
resentment, and hate:
my perfect description
(afraid it's too late?)
patience and virtue,
understanding and love:
my doctor's prescription
(the Doctor above)
(32) A LONGING
How I long...
For something to give my life an importance,
To escape the boredom of everyday existence
And find at last our life's true meaning:
To bring to light an unknown truth
Lain in darkness all ages past,
To sail a vast, uncharted sea
And reach the shores...
Of an undiscovered world.
(33) MY FONDEST DESIRE
I'd like to drive with you tonight
To some faraway place
And sit and talk and hold you
And listen to music the whole night through...
Till the day-birds begin their singing,
And till the long and dark and lonely night
Fades in the light of our love's new dawn.
(34) NIGHTS WITH YOU
Your warm brown eyes,
Both dark and bright,
Turn cold, dark night
To warmth and light.
Your gentle touch,
Though soft and light,
Can change the world...
Can give new life.
(35) A PLEASURE
betwixt our sheets,
under our covers:
our little bare feets...
how great we are lovers!
(36) DIVORCE POEM
I don't love you less
Since you're not here anymore;
I don't love you less
Than I once did before;
I don't love you less
Since you walked out that door.
Keep our love alive
In your heart as before;
Keep our love alive...
And feel angry no more.
(37) SPRING DANCE
Though in the crowd, I am alone
With no one there to call my own;
I walk amidst the people there,
But there is no one there to care.
Their eyes look blindly straight through me,
Like a ghostly shape they cannot see,
As though no one were really there,
As though I were the empty air.
I stand and think of times gone by
Before we said our last good-bye
When love was mine and you were there,
Your smile, your eyes, your long blonde hair.
I turn and walk into the night
And leave this place of sound and light,
But no one knows that I have gone,
And no one cares...
I am alone.
(38) HOW DO I KNOW THAT YOU LOVE ME?
I read it...
in the letters
that you write me,
I hear it...
from your lips
when you tell me,
I can see it...
in your eyes
when you behold me,
And I feel it...
in your touch
as you hold me.
(39) MY BELOVED ONE
I saw her from afar one day,
Beautiful and radiant in the glowing sun.
Unseen I ran along my way,
Unknown to my beloved one.
The sun shone bright upon her hair,
Upon her flowing silken dress
And touched her face, a face so fair,
With a soft and warm caress.
Unheard I whispered, went round a bend,
And left behind where I had run
The words, I love you, in the wind,
Unheard by my beloved one.
(40) TO LAURA: GOOD-BYE POEM
It's Sunday morning,
I am home alone,
The sun is shining brightly
Through my living room window,
My telephone sits silently
On the table beside me,
And sadly I realize:
You are gone;
You have turned away from me.
It's alright though;
I understand...
You deserve to have
The very best
That life has to offer:
To love and be loved.
And as long as I exist,
As long as breath
Escapes my lips,
There will always be someone...
Someone in this world
Who loves you.
Though I must keep myself
At a distance,
Know that my love for you
Remains undiminished,
That I will hold your memory close...
Close inside my heart
Where it will always be a part...
A part of me forever.
Good-bye, my love,
Though I wish
With all my heart
That it didn't have to be.
(41) TO CHRISTINA: MY REMEMBRANCE OF THEE
When life's many sorrows
All press around me
Like the icy winter winds
Of a bleak December night,
Such times I take refuge
In my remembrance of thee...
And warm my cold hands
By the soft-glowing firelight.
(42) TOGETHER
Our love would end our sadness;
Its joy would ease our pain
As dawn is born in darkness,
As sunlight shines in rain.
(43) IN ALL THE WORLD
There is no place I'd rather be
Than by your side, just you and me,
No other hands I'd rather touch...
No one else I love so much.
And as we dance across the floor,
How could I ever ask for more?
No other face in front of me
Could make me feel this way, you see.
No other eyes to gaze into
Could look at me the way yours do.
No other smile, no other hair,
None other thing found anywhere
Could match the joy of being there.
In all the world this much is true:
That no one else exists like you;
Nowhere to look, no place to go
To find another you, I know.
(44) THIS DAY
She seemed to care, to want to stay;
I had no doubts nor fears
That love would ever go astray,
That she would not be near.
I watched her turn and walk away,
And through a blur of tears,
I wait for time to turn this day
To weeks, to months, to years.
(45) PERCHANCE WE'VE MET
Do you dream of an apartment
Overlooking a great city at night
With many, many tall buildings
All adorned with myriad lights?
Do you dream of a loving visitor
Arriving stealthily on the balcony
Bringing a copy of Dickens
And reading to you eloquently?
Perhaps then I've met you
Because, it seems,
On many separate occasions
I've dreamed that same dream.
(46) A BROKEN DATE
Speaks to me most eloquently
Of what you yourself can't say
And tells me all I need to hear
In a clear and silent way:
That you no longer care for me,
That starting from this day,
All my dreams are shattered things,
All hope is flown away.
(47) IN FUTURE TENSE
A dusty stack of love poems stands;
I never thought that girl
Would merely be the grain of sand
Round which is formed the pearl.
(48) MY HEART'S CONDITION
From love's once sweetest dwelling place,
Strange new odors emanate...
Up my nostrils and in my face:
The stench of rotting, putrid hate!
(49) AFTER THE FALL
I pray that I be healed...
and be made whole again,
that I regain...
my inner strength again,
find someone else...
to fill my heart again,
let go of hate...
and know of love again.
(50) THESE THREE THINGS
Three things in all the world, I know,
Are only loved by me:
An old piano's untouched keys
Laid out in symmetry,
A lonely, open skating floor
Where no one wants to be,
The blank and lowly empty page
From which springs poetry.
(51) TO BEGIN AGAIN
To be able...
To begin my life all over again,
To have all of the youth
That I've lost restored to me,
To have the wisdom this time
Not to make the same mistakes,
And to know, when I finally reach
The same point once again,
That this time I've truly lived
And loved and enjoyed my life,
And not simply wasted it...
As I did the first time around.
(52) STILL
I saw her once again last night,
More beautiful than ever in the pale moonlight.
She once had meant the world to me;
With no one else I'd wished to be.
The moonbeams sparkled in her eyes
On teardrops she could not disguise
And softly lent unto her face
The dearest look of perfect grace.
We sat alone and talked awhile
Of many things, but all meanwhile,
Inside my heart, with ONE thing filled,
Echoed the words, I love you still.
(53) NO WORDS CAN COME
I'd like to plainly state in verse
How one cursed night could be no worse,
But from the depths of my despair...
No words can come from out of there.
(54) WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND
I would NOT want to be
Standing in your shoes
When what you did to me
Comes back on you.
The tears that fell
When me you USED
Will flow again...
Through your eyes too.
And all the sorrow
And all the pain
That fell down on me
Will gather up again
And fall down from heaven
In a pouring rain...
You can't change this weather!
It's by God ordained.
(55) LOVE'S PARADOX
Tell me how...
that one lone thing
can bring such joy...
then bring such pain.
How can its teardrops
be both two things:
both tears of joy
and tears...of pain?
(56) METAMORPHOSIS
Long ago in a forgotten land,
There stretched a beach of whitened sand
Where oft a maiden, young and free,
Would slowly walk beside the sea.
The sea breeze streamed through her long hair,
But no one else was with her there
Save sea gulls ranged in perfect flight
In sunset's fading, ruddy light.
The mellowed sunlight lit her skin
And warmed her to her heart within
Till in the sea, the sun went down
As sea waves made their crashing sound.
As night approached and she walked back,
She dreamed of what she'd always lacked:
Beneath the shining stars above,
She dreamed of someone she could love.
Now underneath those very stars,
Upon a rock that stood not far,
There sat a man in this dark place
Who wore a frock to hide his face.
His face was marred; his heart was pure;
Much sorrow had he thus endured,
And only one thing he had known:
A life of wandering alone.
He'd watched the maiden in her walk;
To such as her, he dared not talk;
He couldn't tell her what he felt:
That she had caused his heart to melt.
Atop the moonlit precipice,
He breathed a sigh and made a wish...
Not for himself as others do:
He wished that all her dreams come true.
When morning came and he awaked,
A sight caused his whole form to shake:
From out his clear-blue washing place,
Stared back a perfect, godlike face!
Now in that far-off, long-lost land,
Two lovers stroll the glistening sands...
Clasped together, hand in hand,
Beneath the place a bare rock stands.
(57) WASTED
I fear the ravages of time
Upon the youth that once was mine,
The growing lines across my face,
The failing strength I can't replace;
But most I fear that I shall be,
Through all of time's eternity,
A heap of bones lain in the ground
Where grubs and earthworms crawl around,
Whose sojourn in the world above
Was wasted...never finding love.
(58) TO MY UNSEEN LOVE [Introduction]
What some have called their soul mate or their other
half, I have called my Unseen Love.
When I was once young and full of great dreams, my
Unseen Love would come to me in my imagination, where
we'd sit and hold hands in the warm, moonlit night,
beholding the stars and feeling the night's soft
breeze. I knew her quite well, even though she existed
only in my dreams, and all that was really there
beside me was the night's sweet air.
My soul had greater depth in those days of my youth;
I aspired to lofty ideals and dreamed dreams that only
myself and my Unseen Love could appreciate and share.
My connection to the rest of the world and its people
was, in comparison, quite shallow and superficial. No
one else seemed to see and appreciate what I and my
Unseen Love shared together: our passion for discovery
and learning, our yearning for truth, our love of the
beauties of nature, and our appreciation of the truly
exalted and magical things in life that everyone else
seemed to miss. We loved great works of art, classical
music, and poetry, and, most especially, we loved the
music of Bach. The joys of these things made our eyes
mist with tears, but the greatest joy, by far, was the
joy of our love.
Though split apart from me and existing in some
unknown place in time and space, I nevertheless felt
very close to her. I knew that somewhere she really
existed. Her thoughts were my thoughts, and no amount
of time and space could prevent our meeting in both
our imaginations and longing for each other's presence
in the world of reality.
To have my Unseen Love actually present in the
real-life world, to share the same tiny corner of time
and space, and to have that vast unfathomable distance
that keeps us apart turned into just a few short
inches of moonlit air would be an ecstatic joy that my
soul could scarcely comprehend, not even imagine.
So I wrote her a poem which I called "To My Unseen
Love," a poem that I hope will outlive its author. And
maybe somewhere in a future time or in a different
place my Unseen Love will happen upon it, and having a
mind and soul attuned to my spirit, and thinking
thoughts that are the same as mine, she will recognize
me from her own imagination. For being split apart
from me before birth, she is longing for me as well.
I no longer dream of finding her as I once did. Most
of my dreams have crumbled to dust. But in all my
life, this was surely my life's greatest dream: being
reunited, with my Unseen Love.
What would I say to her if she were standing before
me? What words could I say to express how I feel?
Perhaps words such as these from Elise's soliloquy in
Somewhere in Time:
"The woman of my dreams has almost faded now. The one
I have created in my mind. The sort of woman each man
dreams of in the deepest and most secret reaches of
his heart. I can almost see her now before me. What
would I say to her, if she were really here? Forgive
me, I have never known this feeling. I've lived
without it all my life. Is it any wonder, then, that I
failed to recognize you? You, who brought it to me for
the first time. Is there any way I can tell you how my
life has changed? Any way at all to let you know what
sweetness you have given me? There is so much to say.
I cannot find the words. Except for these: I love you!
Such would I say to her, if she were really here."
(58) TO MY UNSEEN LOVE
I've never looked upon your face;
I do not know your name;
And in some unseen distant place,
I know you will remain
Forever kept apart from me
Across both space and time;
I hope someday these words you'll see,
By chance that you will find
Within this old and worn-out book
The fact so plain and true:
That all my life in vain I looked...
In vain I searched for you.
I'd sit beneath the moonlit skies
In summer's warm night air
And dream of looking in your eyes,
Of you beside me there;
And as I walked, in fantasy
I gently held your hand,
But in the moonlight next to me:
No one there did stand;
And if I could, I would have flown
Across all time and space
And left behind my world I'd known...
And you, my love, embrace.
(59) BACH'S MUSIC
an open window
through which
I sometimes see
a fleeting glimpse...
of heaven
and eternity
(60) OUR FORGOTTEN LOVE
thrown away,
cast aside,
of no further use...
a crumpled, empty
old tin can...
worthless refuse...
(61) THE DECADENCE OF MODERN ART
the child smears
sloppily...
with his crayons
as the cat steps
stealthily...
across the keyboard
(62) MY SECRET LOVE
Across the floor, not far from me,
Within this dreary factory,
My secret love sits busily
Amidst the noise and drudgery.
So beautiful, so young and fair,
To her, none other can compare;
And trying vainly not to stare,
I watch the back of her long blonde hair:
In all my life I've never seen,
In all the world there's never been
A sight more lovely than this scene:
This long blonde hair of golden sheen.
Passing time will soon erase,
An empty chair will soon replace
All this wealth of untold grace
She brings into this joyless place.
If broken dreams could be made new,
If secret wishes could all come true,
Then I would ask for only two:
To touch her hair...and hold her too.
(63) TO SARA (In Remembrance of Sara Teasdale)
Though the flame be forgotten
That once burned warm and bright
In the cold, midnight stillness
Of that long-lost winter night,
Though the gray, crumbled ashes
Strewn out across that snow
Were swept away forever...
To where only the wind shall know,
Though the flower be forgotten
That once adorned that spring,
Her thoughts will live forever;
Her angel's voice still sings.
(64) TO THE PSEUDO-CHRISTIANS
You are like a prospector who, searching
long and hard, finds what he believes is
a priceless gold nugget. But what he has
found, upon closer examination, turns out
not to be gold at all, but is instead
fool's gold.
2 You are as a man who, dissatisfied
with what he owns, sells all his worldly
goods for what he believes is a handsome
price. But only later, when it is then
too late, does he discover that the money
he has received is not genuine, but is in
fact counterfeit.
3 You are like a traveler who, on his
way to the Celestial City, looks for a
place to rest from his journey and stops
for the night at a wayside inn. But when
he is there, he is deceived by the
innkeeper into believing that he has
reached his destination. And preferring
the comfort of the inn to the hardship of
the journey, he thus does not continue
that journey, and so never reaches the
Celestial City.
4 You are as a woman who, without having
access to any firsthand knowledge,
receives all her information at the end
of a long line of gossip. But that
information, in passing from one person
to another, so becomes distorted. And
upon reaching the end such person, it
thus is without its original truth.
5 You are as a child who, standing at
the window, perceives a tiny insect
crawling across the face of the glass.
But watching it intently and with his
eyes focused sharply upon it, he thus
does not see what lies outside that
window.
6 You are as a man who, sitting down to
dinner, is served what he thinks is a
wholesome and savory stew. But along with
the potatoes and carrots and gravy, what
looks like the beef isn't really beef at
all, but is in reality horse manure.
7 You are like an old man who, after an
attack of appendicitis, is straightway
taken to the nearest hospital. But rather
than surgery to take out the appendix, he
is given a drug to take away the pain.
8 You are as a man holding a red-hot
poker in one hand and taking an aspirin
with the other.
9 You are as sheep mistaking a WOLF for
the shepherd.
(65) DIRECTIONLESS
The road that I have traveled,
Though once a busy highway,
Changed from paved to graveled
And is now not even a pathway.
No fellow travelers can here be found,
Through this pathless forest onward,
There is no hope of turning around,
And there is no going forward.
There is only aimless wandering here
Within this endless, pathless forest,
Murky darkness with nothing clear,
Apart from all the farthest.
(66) I WOULD BOARD THE TITANIC
I would have gladly died
in that cold, icy water
for the sake of once knowing
a great love such as that.
I would quite happily be buried
and be love's willing martyr
just to have looked in those eyes
and in that place once have sat.
I'd feel that freezing coldness
and be interred in miles of sea
to just once escape the aloneness
of a world where there is...
only...me.
(67) FROM MY DREAM OF YOU
Though lost to me so long ago
That tears for you no longer flow,
You came to me in a dream last night,
Arrayed in wondrous, angelic light.
You sat with me and held my hand;
I turned to you and then began
To tell you all that's in my heart,
Of all the time we've been apart.
You are here; you are here again!
How can I tell you or even begin
To convey my joy that you are here
Or restrain the flow of joyous tears?
I don't want to wake or wish to leave!
Let me stay with you so I'll not grieve.
I'll forsake the glaring light of day
And not wake up; with you I'll stay.
But as Eden fell from Adam's grasp,
I opened up my eyes at last...
And once again like long before,
The tears began to flow once more,
For yet again you're lost to me!
But in my dreams perchance you'll be.
(68) MY WISH TONIGHT
I wish so much...
That you were here with me tonight,
Actually here in my house,
With me at this moment.
I wish I could get up from this chair
And walk into the bedroom
And find you there in my bed...
With your outstretched arms
Inviting me to join you.
I wish I could feel...
The warmth from your body
On my sheets and my pillow
Instead of the coldness that awaits me
Under those sad, empty covers.
I wish I could melt into your warm arms
And merge and become one with you,
Knowing at last...
That I've found the lost other half of me.
(69) MY DESIRE FOR YOU
I want to feel your soft hands
All over my body...
Like the warm touch of sunlight
On a tropical shore!
I want to touch your smooth skin
And caress you all over
Like the cool rain of August,
Like a summer downpour!
(70) YOUR DEAR, SWEET LETTERS
moonbeams...
kissing the rippling waves
of a warm nocturnal sea
as expressed in the poem by Shelley
called LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY
sweet melodic music...
setting my soul and spirit free:
the notes of Beethoven's
MOONLIGHT SONATA
like waves flowing over me
(71) MY CONSOLATION
Light is light...
Because of darkness;
The day is day...
Because there's night.
Only those...
Who've known of loneliness,
For only those...
Can love shine bright!
(72) TO JUDI: OBSCURITY
She sang her song of life and love
Though few were there to hear.
Known to but the stars above,
She cried her unseen tears.
A distant bird now sings instead;
Her life has ceased to be.
A cloud now cries her tears, it's said;
Its raindrops kiss the sea.
(73) FRUSTRATION SUPERHIGHWAY
I've sadly become
a groveling dog...
self-chained to my computer,
hungrily devouring
mere morsels and scraps
from life's lavish table:
leftover words tossed out
in cold, scanty emails,
an unsavory diet
of bone-hard text.
I long to again be a man
with a real-life existence,
to hear the sweet sound...
of a soft voice once more,
to behold the dear sight...
of a fair face like before,
to again feel the touch...
of a warm, caring hand.
So forgive me if I fail
to respond to an email;
excuse me if I choose not
to post a new web page;
my heart's no longer in
this thankless endeavor.
I prefer to have friends
that I can hear, see, and feel.
I prefer to have friends
who are substantive and real.
(74) MAROONED
We must embark on a voyage
From the land of our youth
For no one who's there can stay.
We must leave that fair place
And our young lives so erase;
We're sojourners there for a day.
So while you're in that lush land,
Fall in love while you can
For I give you this warning in truth:
The isle of old age...
The journey's sad, final stage
Is no place to be alone
And marooned.
(75) THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (The Most Erotic of Dreams)
It was the night before Christmas
When all through my house,
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a spouse.
No stockings were hung
By the chimney that year
In hopes that St. Nicholas
Might somehow appear,
No mamma in her kerchief,
Just I in my cap
Had retired to my lodging
For a long, lonesome nap,
When out in the kitchen
There arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed
To see what was the matter.
I snatched up my Levis
From off of the floor
And hastily darted
Through the dark bedroom door.
Away to the kitchen
I flew like a flash,
Charged in through the doorway,
And licked my mustache.
I must have been granted
My fondest of wishes:
In the dark a Greek goddess
Stood washing my dishes!
She was draped all in satin
From her head to her toe,
As untarnished and white
As the new-fallen snow,
That yet in the darkness
Shined ever so bright,
Bringing with it its own
Source of heavenly light!
Long flowing tresses
She had flung on her back
That in the folds of her raiment
Did silkily track,
That yet in the coldness
Of the dark wintry room,
Imparted the warmth
Of spring flowers in bloom!
All beauty from heaven
To her was bequeathed!
And perfection encircled
Her head like a wreath.
Her eyes, filled with moonbeams,
How they twinkled and shined!
Her cheeks were like roses
That her curls had entwined.
The light on her breasts
From the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of midday
To objects I'd know!
New stockings were hung
On her ankles with care
In hopes her Prince Charming
Soon would be there.
In that cold darkness
There danced such a vision!
It didn't take me long
To make a decision!
Her stockings I'd inch down
Her ankles with care!
With a sleigh full of toys,
St. Nicholas had been there!
He surely had granted
My fondest of wishes!
I was beholding a GODDESS
While she clattered my dishes!
"I'll stoop down to her ankle,
As I merrily whistle,
And work my way up
Like the down of a thistle!
"As she bends at the sink-top,
In a twinkling haste,
I'll clasp my strong arms
Around her gloriously robed waist!
"Eyes of green emerald,
Skin soft and white,
Oh what did I do
To deserve such delight?"
As I drew in my hand,
As she was turning around,
The clattering pie plates
Ceased making their sound.
But a glint in her eye
And a tilt of her head
Soon gave me to know
I had nothing to dread.
This life-giving goddess
Would soon warm my cold bed
And give me to know
That I wasn't yet dead!
We spoke not a word,
But went straight to our work
Of giving warmth to the coldness
And bringing light to the murk.
She then turned to face me,
Our arms intertwined,
And as our hair intermingled,
Her lips then met mine!
Our flesh then erupted
With volcanic desire!
The warmth from her body
Ignited my fire!
The blazing inferno
Burned through her as well.
I felt her sweet passion
Grasp tighter than hell!
I could bear it no longer,
And neither could she.
I then quickly pondered
What my next move would be.
"Since I do not like football,
And she's not into RAP,
I'll suggest that we settle
For a long winter's nap!"
She must have been psychic
For before it was said,
We started our trek
To the bedroom (she led)!
More rapid than eagles,
To the bedroom we came,
With I in my Levis
Still looking the same,
But as we swift coursers
Crashed through heaven's door,
A funny thing happened
To the white robe that she wore:
It must have been magic,
For right there in my face,
A black satin nightgown
Had taken its place!
At my bedside I tarried
To light a small candle
To more clearly discern
What delights I might handle.
In the warm flickering glowing
Of the candle's dim light,
I could see her more clearly
Than in moonlight I might.
The sweet scene that befell me
In this chamber of love
Could only have fallen
From high HEAVEN above!
Words cannot possibly!
Even BEGIN to describe!
Beauty incarnate!
And perfection ALIVE!
What once had been only
The vaguest of dreams,
Sad Longing's most hopeless
And hapless of schemes,
What once had been shrouded
And buried in mist
Was fleshed out before me
ALIVE to be kissed!
Like Pygmalion's statue!
An IDEAL come to life!
No earthly pretenders!
To a HEAVENLY wife!
As her white robe had once beamed
With the August sun's light,
For a gown she was wearing
The warm summer's night!
Like a willow's drooped branches
Amid night's starlit charms,
Her dark, lovely tresses
Draped down on bare arms.
The bare tops of her breasts
That her gown had not covered
Were like ivory half-moons
That had risen and hovered.
Her eyes shined and sparkled
Like twin evening stars!
And on her black gown for sequins
Hung Jupiter and Mars!
This vision from heaven
Brought tears to my eyes!
My heaven-sent goddess
Was DRESSED in night skies!
More wondrously stunning
Than I ever saw!
I knelt down at her feet
In mute reverence and awe!
"I'll kneel down at her ankles
And slip her out of the stockings
As desire gathers around me
Like birds that are flocking.
"I'll inch down her stockings
Off her ankles with care
And invite her to bed
Once her feet are both bare!"
When that I accomplished,
I got in bed once again.
I asked her to join me,
And she jumped right on in.
Like children we nestled
All snug in our bed
While visions of sugar-plums
Danced in my head!
Her stockings were off,
And her ankles were bare,
So I said to myself,
"I think I'll start there!
"I'll start with her ankle,
Moving ever so slightly,
And work my way up
To the hem of her nighty!
"I'll start with her ankle,
Move up to her knee,
And work my way up
Till her thighs are both free!
"And coursing up ever farther,
In a twinkling haste,
I'll clasp hot raring hands
Around her warm silky waist."
With brisk fingers like reindeer
And swift hands like a sleigh,
With my bundle of toys
I did merrily play,
When what to my wandering
Hands should appear,
BUT MINIATURE PANTIES!
(Felt by eight tiny reindeer!)
Under her nighty,
All tiny and teeny,
I could feel the faint outline
Of a miniature bikini!
"Sweet eyes of green emerald,
Satin skin, soft and white,
Oh what did I do
To deserve such a night?
"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER!
Now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on, CUPID!
On, DONNER and BLITZEN!
"To the top of her panties!
To the top of that wall!
Now, dash away! dash away!
Dash away all!"
My Levis were bursting
At all of their seams!
She WAS the fulfillment
Of my WILDEST of dreams!
All over the bedroom
On the carpet below,
Our items of clothing
Kept falling like snow:
The castaway raiment
Of two depraved strippers!
Unhung Christmas stockings
From which I had slipped her!
In the midst of my kisses
I could hear a faint groan
So I listened intently
To the sound of her moan:
"There's no place, no place,
No place I ever saw!
No place on this earth
Like Arkansas!
"No place, no place,
No place that I've been!
Compared to Olympus,
Arkansas wins!"
"But why on this earth
Would she want to come here?
Could it be that she loves me?
I'll whisper this in her ear:
"If you were a nut
(I'm a terrible sinner),
Then I'd be the squirrel
That would crack you for dinner!
"If I were your bread,
It would be no surprise
That YOU'D be the yeast
That would make my dough rise!
"If I were a bee
And you were a flower,
I'd be craving your nectar
Every waking hour!
"Let's wash all those dishes,
And when we are finished,
Let's hop in the shower
With libidos undiminished!
"If I had your psychic
And magical powers,
Then I'd be the water
That runs in your shower!
"If I could be present
When you draw your bath water,
Could you please cast a spell
And change me into an otter?
"If I were a towel,
I'd be awaiting the hour
When Psyche once more
Steps out of the shower!
"And when we're done in the bathroom,
When we're finally through,
It's His and Hers night shirts,
One for me, one for you!
"The idea of a back rub
Sounds super to me!
If you get under my shirt,
I'll rub yours for free!
"If you were a kitten
(I am so mean),
Then I'd be the cat
That would lick your fur clean!
"If you were my kitten,
I would lick clean your fur
And contentedly listen
To the sound of your purr!
"If she then gets too noisy,
I know what I'll do:
I'll just shut her up
With a lip-lock or two!
"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER!
Now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on, CUPID!
On, DONNER and BLITZEN!
"Clothes strewn on the floor
To the top of the wall!
Now, dash away! dash away!
Dash away all!"
I had an idea!
And was it a scream!
I'd lather her neck
With all-natural whipped cream!
No need to add sugar,
For she was NATURALLY sweet.
Just the mere thought
Made my heart skip a beat!
While out in the kitchen
(I made a reverse trek),
I whipped up enough
For her shoulders and neck.
"I think I'll make extra,
For I might just need more.
I've never licked cream
Off a goddess before!"
When I reentered the bedroom,
What a radiant sight
Awaited me there
In the subdued window light!
The light on her BARE breasts
From the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of midday
To those objects I'd know!
Now all that she wore
As she lay on my bed
Was a pair of silk panties
(Must have been green and red)!
With her head on my pillow
And her soft hands on my sheets,
I crept in beside her
As my heart drummed fierce beats.
Wearing nothing but panties
And long ringlets of hair,
Overlain with chilled currents
Of sheer see-through air,
In the red dying ember
Of the candle's last light,
She was wearing PERFECTION
As she once wore the night!
"Eyes of greenest emerald,
Silken skin, all pearl white,
If my heart beats much faster,
It might just take flight!"
My jeans grew much tighter
(I was wearing no shirt),
So much tighter, in fact,
That they started to hurt.
But as if she were psychic,
To my shocked disbelief,
She passed me a pair
Of tiger-striped briefs!
"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER!
Now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on, CUPID!
On, DONNER and BLITZEN!
"To break loose from these Levis,
Out of bed I must crawl!
Now, dash away! dash away!
DASH AWAY ALL!"
My heart DID beat faster!
In my chest I could hear
The prancing and pawing
Of eight tiny reindeer!
I unbuttoned my Levis,
Pulled them down off my waist,
And transformed into a tiger
With the swiftest of haste.
I leapt there beside her,
Pawed my whipped cream,
And licked it from off her
For hours, it seemed!
Her neck was inviting,
Her shoulders lay bare,
So I said to myself,
"Why not start there!
"I'll start with her shoulders,
Move down to her chest,
And work my way lower,
All the way to her breasts.
"As she lies there beside me,
I'll have just a taste:
I'll press my starved lips
To her GLORIOUS bare waist!
"And moving back upward,
At her breasts I will stop,
Before returning once more
To sweet lips at the top."
With breast to breast,
With thigh to thigh,
With tiger stripes to red satin,
I thought I might die!
My kisses rained down
On her neck and her shoulders.
She held me much tighter!
My fingers grew bolder:
All around and over
And under her teeny
Victoria's Secret
Now soaking-wet bikini!
Like leaves of autumn
And snowflakes in winter,
My kisses kept falling.
To heaven I sent her!
Like raindrops of summer
And dewdrops of spring
Splashing upon her!
What paradise she'd bring!
"The temperature's rising!
Can it possibly be
The end of December
And a hundred and three?"
The window got foggy,
The sheets felt damn wet,
Our bellies got slippery,
It must have been sweat!
With slippery slick sweat
All covering her belly,
I kept rolling right off her
Like a bowlful of jelly!
With thighs spreading wider
She was hotter than hell!
Something upon me
Had managed to swell!
I could bear it no longer!
"I MUST HAVE RELIEF!"
I rose up to pull down
My tiger-striped briefs.
When that I accomplished
(My task half complete),
I slipped her silk panties
From off of her feet.
I then went inside her
(She guided me in).
To me it did seem
That to HEAVEN I'd been!!!
"Closest eyes of greenest emerald!
Silky smooth and so tight!
I could live a THOUSAND lifetimes
And never know such delight!"
Our bodies intermingled!
Our souls intertwined!
I could scarcely believe it!
The GODDESS was mine!
I kissed her lips gently
As I moved out and in,
She matched every motion
And lit up with a grin.
In the midst of my kisses
I could hear a loud groan,
So I listened intently
To the sound of her moan:
"There's no place, no place,
No place I EVER saw!
No place on this planet
Like ARKANSAS!
"No place, no place,
No place I've EVER been!
Compared to JOVE on Olympus,
Arkansas wins!"
That finally DID IT!
When Santa Claus came,
I TORE OPEN and shuddered
And cried out her name:
The most beautiful name
That I've ever heard,
The name of a goddess!!!
Believe every word!
"From faraway Olympus
To right HERE in Arkansas!
I'm lying here helpless
And speechless in awe!"
We talked as I held her
For what seemed like long hours
As her breasts pressed upon me
Like twin ivory towers.
"From the depths of her body
To the depths of her SOUL!
On, DASHER! On, DANCER!
On, PRANCER! LET'S ROLL!"
She told me she'd come here
On her own sweet volition.
Not brought by St. Nick,
She was here on a mission:
For thousands of years, now,
Her joys had been few.
An ageless, fair goddess
Can get lonely too.
"But how in this world
Did you find me, pray tell?"
"Oh silly boy, can't you guess?
I have Internet as well!"
"No older than twenty,
This sweet girl appears,
Possessing the wisdom
Of ten thousands of years!"
All the rest of that night
We made funny faces
As our hair intermingled
In all the right places,
While there on the floor,
Like two autumn leafs,
Lay green and red panties
And tiger-striped briefs.
As I lay there all lifeless
And limp in her arms,
Exhausted and worn out
From all of her charms,
I got this idea
That we just had to try:
"I must have a piece
Of her sugar-plum pie!"
So I pleadingly whispered
To my all-pleasing goddess,
"Before, I was HORNY,
But now I'm HUNGRY, I promise!
"Could you arise from our bed
And join me out in our kitchen?
We'll bake us a pie
To put an end to my bitchin!"
So I leapt up and raked up
From off of the floor
My tiger-striped briefs
And pulled them on me once more.
I tossed her her panties,
And then in a flurry
She slipped them back on
(I told her to hurry).
Back out to the kitchen
We flew like a flash,
Opened my pantry,
And raided my stash:
Whole wheat flour (no sugar)
And cherries and fixings.
I tossed her a bowl
And she started her mixing.
In white dazzling radiance
Like the snow in noon's light,
I could now see her clearly
For the first time that night.
The light now embraced her
As I had once done,
In dazed adoration,
As a kiss from the sun.
It caressed her all over,
From her hips to her breasts,
And acknowledged PERFECTION
As she passed its strict test.
Those green and red panties
Were all that she wore!
Was I HUNGRY or HORNY?
"I'm not sure anymore!"
Wearing nothing myself
But tiger-striped briefs,
I crept up behind her
(Seeking relief).
As she arched at the stove-top
By the paper towel rack,
Her long curling tresses
Spilled down her bare back.
They streamed down her skin
Like a meandering river,
Changing its course
At her tiniest quiver!
Like a river of life
Jetting forth from her head,
Letting me know once again
That I wasn't yet dead!
I pressed up against her,
My chest to her back.
With my hands on her shoulders,
I planned my attack.
Her hair softly tickled
The backs of my hands
While my palms and my fingers
Were exploring new lands!
I inched my hands lower
And embraced her bare waist.
My fingers were searching!
Her paradise they chased!
Lower they ventured,
And still even lower.
"Not long," I then thought,
"Till I will BIBLICALLY know her!"
Under her panties
And into her soft fur,
I nestled four reindeer
(She let out a loud purr).
They pranced and they pawed
In her most HOLY of places!!!
And with Old DONNER inside her
She made those strange faces!
Toward that sacred, lush garden
Like a dripping oasis,
Crawled the sun-scorched and dying
From the dry desert spaces.
At that warm, steaming oven
Amidst my pots and my pans,
A cold pilgrim once lingered
To warm his iced hands.
My tiger-striped briefs
Were born again as an arrow!
"I must strike that sleek target
So soaked and so narrow!"
I tugged at my waistband
With the hand I had free
And flew out like a flash,
At a hundred and three!!!
With a little old driver
So lively and thick,
I knew in a moment
That this would be quick!
He was rosy and plump,
A right jolly old elf!
(I knew that I should be
Ashamed of myself.)
But as leaves that before
The WILD HURRICANE fly,
We are driven by passion
TO MOUNT TO THE SKY!!!
When the reindeer had landed,
When I held BOTH of her breasts,
I could hold out no longer
In this OLYMPIC love-fest!
The night I came knocking
At the goddess's back door
Was a night to remember!
I can tell you no more.
As best I remember,
That pie was not baked.
More HORNY than hungry,
What a mess we did make!
With our bodies all tarnished
With fresh whole wheat flour
Like ashes and soot,
It was time for that shower!
So off to the bathroom
We then flew like a flash,
I turned on the hot water
And in a mad dash,
We stripped off our undies
(They were still clinging on us),
And in that Garden of Eden
I received my next bonus:
As I streaked past the mirror,
I thought I could see
MICHELANGELO'S DAVID
Take a quick peek at me.
When I mustered the courage
To take a much closer look,
The image, it shimmered
As I stood there and shook.
My shape-shifting goddess
Had indeed cast her spell:
Never once in my life
Had I looked this damn well!
Like the statue of David!
An IDEAL brought to life!
No earthly pretender
For MY goddess-slash-wife!
She was dressed in sweet NOTHING,
In a raiment like Eve's,
In the midst of that garden
Interspersed with green leaves,
She walked unashamed
With no cause to conceal
What God Himself fashioned
With no faults to reveal.
As a WORLD to herself,
Her Creator had shaped her,
And in beauty itself,
Like the SUN, he had draped her.
"On her hills, in her valleys,
By her forests and shores,
With her BEAUTY for sunlight,
I will dwell evermore!"
Her breasts were like mountains
I was longing to climb!
Her valleys, they beckoned
Like shade at noontime!
Her hair, like a forest
I could LOSE myself in,
Branched down her bare back
Through soft clearings of skin.
With mountainous breasts
And whole FORESTS of curls,
She was not a mere goddess.
She WAS my whole world!
Like Eve in the Garden
With no fig leaf she stood,
And wouldn't you know it:
I AGAIN TURNED TO WOOD!
Standing there gazing
On the stark-naked goddess,
I could barely endure it!
I became quite immodest.
As still as a picture,
By the tub she did stand.
There was no other motion
But my swift sleight of hand.
Standing naked like Adam,
Before her I marveled!
It was HER inspiration
That had turned me to marble!
For no other woman
In this world I could see!
Like Eve was to Adam,
She was EVERYTHING to me!
The light shone upon her
Like the tropical sun.
The temperature was rising
(To a hundred and one)!
The warm waves in the bathtub
Made a loud splashing sound.
It was like sand by the ocean
With all that flour strewn around.
My desire came surging
Like an incoming tide!!!
She half closed her eyes
And turned her head to the side.
Her hair draped her shoulders
In thick flowing curls.
"There are no other women!
There are no other girls!
"In all of my life
I have never once seen
A PICTURE SO LOVELY!
Like out of a dream!"
Standing there naked
So closely beside her,
I could clearly envision
ONCE BEING INSIDE HER!
It was almost as though
I could feel her own grip!
Grasping around me!
(Either that or her lips!)
Then into the bathtub
She gracefully stepped,
While carefully traipsing
Behind her I crept.
I sat down in the water
Facing her back.
My legs slipped around her
(For space we did lack).
She leaned back against me.
My arms coursed around her.
"How ecstatic it makes me
To have finally found her!"
She was the perfect fulfillment
Of my life's greatest dream!
Pure joy poured upon me
Like the warm faucet stream!
I washed her all over!
It was simply the best!
She was all wet and soapy:
Slippery thighs to slick breasts.
As I teased her hard nipples
And squeezed her wet thighs,
She leaned her head nearer
And looked straight in my eyes.
"Sweet eyes of greenest emerald,
Glossy skin, all soaped white,
My God, how I hope
There's no end to this night!"
Her breath, it did quiver
As she leaned back to kiss.
That she wanted me within her
Was impossible to miss!
She placed my hand lower,
All the way past her waist.
It dived to the water
With the swiftest of haste.
I proceeded to rub her
As she kissed my wet lips.
She pressed back on me harder
With her warm, sudsy hips.
With a hard bar of soap
Wedged tightly between us,
I'd have been thoroughly embarrassed
If our mothers had seen us!
With our lips pressed together,
With her tongue licking mine,
And with DASHER inside her,
HER KISS WAS LIKE WINE!!!
Through her hard, pressing kiss
I could hear a faint mutter,
"Barely louder," I thought,
"Than her heart's racing flutter."
"I must have you right now!
I need to feel you INSIDE ME!"
So I turned her around
So like a horse she could ride me.
MY legs stretched ONE way
And HERS stretched another.
She slipped down around me
And rode like no other!
We sat tightly gripped
In each other's embrace:
Breast to breast, heart to heart,
Eye to eye, FACE TO FACE!
She pulsed her soaked hips
In a rhythmical motion.
I pushed up inside her,
The water like lotion.
Her hips then pulsed faster
And made waves in the tub
As she pressed even harder
So against me she'd rub.
When I felt her tense shudder,
I then knew it was time:
Ecstatic WAVES of pure pleasure
Had rewarded our crime!
As she sank limp and lifeless
And ceased her loud groans,
I could hear her soft whisper
Interspersed with faint moans:
"There's no place, no place,
No place that I've been!
No place on OLYMPUS
Like this warm tub of sin!"
She then asked if I'd ever
Done it THIS way before:
Interlocked in a bathtub
With our legs getting sore.
I told her I hadn't,
That she was my first,
The first time a BATHTUB
Had so quenched my thirst.
"I've changed you into an animal,
A sex-crazed horned toad,"
Joked the wet, soap-stained goddess
As tires screeched in the road.
"No, I already was one.
I'm no worse than I've been,"
I joked with my goddess,
With a shy, sheepish grin.
"Then you HAVE before done this?
I might have known you were bad!"
Cried the wet, green-eyed goddess,
Getting more and more mad.
Like a frog in that water
That had once been a prince,
I felt sharp words spear me
As she grew more incensed.
She sprang from the bathtub!
To her white robe she did race!
Then called me a liar
And slammed the door in my face!
And then in an instant,
As a DREAM sometimes does,
It all returned back
To the way it once was.
I turned with a jerk
And looked frantically around,
But my tiger-striped briefs
Were nowhere to be found.
Yet still, a slight trace
Of my goddess DID stay,
For NOTHING can take
Her sweet memory away,
As warm glowing embers
At my hearth yet remained,
Though the hot, blazing fire
Had withered and waned.
Clad in my bathrobe,
All crying and wet,
I'd not one precious moment
With HER to regret!
As I wiped frost from my window
And tears from my eyes,
I could see my beloved goddess
Beneath the dark, late-night skies.
By the road she was standing
Where a DEER had been hit!
It was lying there lifeless
And not moving a bit.
In the quiet, night-drenched whiteness
Of the now-falling snow,
I could see from my window
A faint yellow glow.
Her hands glowed much brighter
As they touched the dead deer,
And once more on my cheek
I could feel a cold tear.
For there in the snow
Beside this glowing good witch,
The broke legs of the deer
Began slowly to twitch!
It moved its furred body
And raised its horned head!
"Dear God, what strong magic!
That deer had been dead!"
I watched in amazement,
For in the place where she stood,
It leapt up from the pavement
And ran off to the woods!
The life-gift she'd brought
To my dead, love-starved soul
She also had granted
To that deer in the snow.
(76) NEVER FAR
Though far, far away,
Far away in the distance,
Across a continent I've not traveled,
Beside a distant sea I've not seen,
You're never far from my thoughts,
But always here with me,
In my heart, in my soul,
Never far in my dreams!
When at night I awaken,
Thoughts of you come rushing upon me
Like the tide of that great ocean,
Like the in-coming waves of that faraway sea
That I've never once seen...
Sparkling with moonbeams,
Pounding upon the dark sands
Of my lost, love-starved soul!
When I awake in the morning,
Thoughts of you come shining upon me
Like an unseen sunrise
Upon that same distant sea,
Lighting its waves and warming its beaches!
Like the warm morning sun
Rising up from that ocean,
Like a bright seaside sunrise,
So your thoughts are to me!
(77) ONLY YOU
Though you are only one,
Only one out of millions,
A tiny speck in the distance
Beside an unseen distant sea,
Though there are others around me
Who are so very much nearer,
There are none more important
Than you now are to me.
Now blind to all others,
I travel lost in a desert,
Seeking the cool, clear oasis
Of your soft loving hands.
On the faraway horizon,
Like shimmering green emerald,
I can see only you
Amidst the dead, sun-scorched sands.
(78) NO ONE MORE REAL
How do I know that you're real, you may ask?
How is it I'm certain you care about me?
Think of the time you'd put into the task
Of typing that mail you'd write constantly.
All of the time that you'd take from each day
To share with me that small piece of your heart
Tells me for sure, in an unclouded way,
That you are for real and were from the start.
When tired and sleepy and needing your rest,
You'd sit and type letters to me, your pet.
Of all of my reasons, this one is best!
How much more sure that you're real can I get?
Yes, I am certain that this much is true:
There's no one on earth who's more real than you.
(79) THE WIND SPEAKS YOUR NAME
How is it I know that you are the one,
That heaven-sent love and you are the same?
I feel your touch in the warm autumn sun
And hear the wind softly whisper your name.
I sense your sweet presence around me like air
And breath your dear spirit into my lost heart
Where it has now become such a part of me there
That no earthly distance can keep us apart.
Every soft breeze that now brushes my face,
Every warm ray that now shines from above
Brings with it your loving and caring embrace
And tells of your precious and undying love.
The wind, the sunlight, and air all agree!
There is no one on earth but you for me.
(80) IN MY BELOVED
I can see my God most clearly
In the most glorious of his creations...
I needn't look to find Him
In religious congregations,
But through tears of joy and reverence,
As I look on my sweet lover,
I see too the God who made her...
And the God who made me love her.
(81) LET ME STAY
We kissed and parted late last night;
I left and walked along my way.
Beneath the cold and dim street lights
I walked from where I'd wished to stay.
I reached the shadowed parking lot;
To my dismay my keys were gone!
There's something there that I forgot!
I must return; I can't go on.
When I got back, her door was locked
Just as I had sadly feared.
But I stood and gently knocked,
And in the doorway she appeared:
Not clad in jeans as she'd been before,
No modest, brightly lit up blouse:
A silken, moonlit gown she wore!
Though not intended to arouse.
Nonetheless my passion grew;
I took her back into my arms,
And such satin smoothness then I knew!
I had not the power to resist such charms.
So I asked if I could stay,
If she would take me to her bed,
But that night I slept...ten miles away.
"I can't," the angel softly said.
(82) LONG AGO I SAW THE SEA
Long ago I saw the sea;
I walked along its sunlit shore:
A distant, fading memory
I hold and cherish evermore.
I watched the sun go down in thee.
Its golden light upon thy waves
Still lights my heart and comforts me
Like lamplight shone in darkest caves.
But in my dream of perfect love
I'm not alone; she's with me there!
Beneath the wispy clouds above
I hold her close and kiss her hair.
I see that sunset in her eyes,
Its golden light upon her face.
We sit beneath the star-filled skies;
Beside that sea...we long embrace.
(83) EVER FARTHER
Though once very close...
(Drawn together as lovers,
Across a continent I traveled
To stand at your side
On that snow-covered shore),
Though once very close,
You feel strangely more distant
And seem to grow ever farther...
In your heart and your spirit
I seem to fade more and more.
So many things
That we try to hold on to
Are like sand through our fingers!
In a moment they go!
It's so very sad
When something so precious
Is melting before us
Like the late winter snow!
Apart once again,
In the dark I awaken
From dreams of us standing
Beside that cold, stormy sea,
But like a ship in that harbor
Sailing out ever farther
Into the dim seaside sunset,
So your love is to me.
(84) YOU ARE THE BEST
Lying alone in my bed
In sleep's warm embrace,
Under the soft cover of dreams,
Tucked in from the real world,
From cold, hard reality,
I once turned my head
When an angel, it seems,
Appeared in its stead
Fleshed out there beside me.
With bright loving eyes
Only inches from mine,
I said to her softly
As I tell in this rhyme:
You are the best thing
That's happened to me
In a very long time!
You are the very best thing
That's happened to me
In a very...long...time.
(85) NEAR TO YOU
There's no place on earth
I'd rather be,
No place on earth
Tonight...
Than somewhere
With you next to me.
It feels so very right!
You're in my thoughts!
You're in my dreams!
You're in my heart!
It's true!
No place on earth
I'd rather be...
Than near and close
...To you!
(86) YOU HAVE TOUCHED ME
I've never gazed upon your face
Nor looked into your eyes
Nor felt your loving, warm embrace
While watching star-filled skies.
I've never held you close to me
Nor even held your hand,
But you have touched my heart, you see,
As sea-waves break on sand.
(87) HEAVEN
The silken smoothness of your skin!
Your warm, sweet hands on me!
Not even heaven can transcend
The joy your love must be!
(88) THE BEAUTY OF YOUR HAIR
The beauty of your hair
Surpasses the beauty
Of all else in nature
As the most glorious feature
Of God's most glorious creation:
More beautiful than the clouds!
More beautiful than the sky!
More beautiful than the sunset!
More beautiful than the rainbow!
More beautiful than the stars!
More beautiful than anything!
Merely to touch but one silken strand
Would be to receive a newness of life!
As a trickle of water...
To someone dying of thirst
On the sun-stricken sand!
I long to bury my hands in your hair
Till all my fingers disappear
In it there!
And all my sorrow!
And all my grief!
And all my loneliness!
And all my heartache!
And all my longing!
Till at last they are gone!
Gone!
Lost in the tresses
Of your long, streaming hair!
(89) THREE LITTLE WORDS
These words can never hold you,
Nor take you in their arms,
Nor gently touch your moonlit face
Amidst this night's sweet charms.
But if these words were magic,
If such things these words could do,
I'd send these words,
These words of love,
To be tonight with you.
(90) WITH YOU
I was with you today...
As the warm sunlight
That touched you.
That warm light
On your face...
Was MY sweet embrace.
As the cool breeze
Of this night...
Streams through your hair,
Just as I was light...
I am the wind with you there.
(91) WHITE CLOUDS
The clouds...
Are especially beautiful today,
But not nearly as beautiful
As the feelings of togetherness
That float high over me
When I come back inside
And open your email.
Words are not capable
Of expressing such feelings,
Just as they are also incapable
Of describing those clouds:
Feelings of soft, white togetherness
That even the clouds don't know.
(92) LOST TO ME
I fear that I have lost you!
With each passing day
That I receive no letter,
My hope fades more
And its light shines dimmer...
Like the setting of a sun
That will never again rise,
Like a night without end
Where all hope of love dies!
(93) A REALLY GOOD FRIEND
A really good friend...
You turned out to be.
I want to thank you so much
For abandoning me!
With no explanation...
With no farewell...
With no well-wishes...
With nothing to tell...
You might as well have told me
To go straight to hell!
Suddenly, you're just gone!
So, lost and alone,
I can barely go on!
There's a right way
And a wrong way
Of doing such things.
And you chose the wrong way
And all the hurt that it brings!
I might even have loved you!
Yes, it's true!
How is it possible
To thank God enough
For the precious gift...
Of knowing YOU?
Is THAT what I said?
When now you treat me
As though I were dead!
I considered you my dearest
And sweetest of friends!
Too bad there's no grave...
For you to visit
And make your amends.
INDEX:
(46) A Broken Date
(32) A Longing
(12) A Minor Prelude
(35) A Pleasure
(93) A Really Good Friend
(8) A Variation on a Theme by Moses
(11) A Wish
(15) Adam's First Words
(49) After the Fall
(21) And Then
(59) Bach's Music
(2) Day to Night
(65) Directionless
(36) Divorce Poem
(1) Epigram for the Battlefield
(29) Epitaph
(83) Ever Farther
(7) Existence
(14) Forever Contained
(67) From My Dream of You
(73) Frustration Superhighway
(40) Good-bye Poem
(87) Heaven
(38) How Do I Know?
(30) I Suppose They Weren't Really Lies
(66) I Would Board the Titanic
(43) In All the World
(47) In Future Tense
(80) In My Beloved
(81) Let Me Stay
(9) Lone Stanza to Nature
(82) Long Ago I Saw the Sea
(92) Lost to Me
(19) Love and Shyness
(20) Love Comes
(55) Love's Paradox
(74) Marooned
(56) Metamorphosis
(5) Morning Comes
(39) My Beloved One
(71) My Consolation
(69) My Desire for You
(33) My Fondest Desire
(48) My Heart's Condition
(41) My Remembrance of Thee
(62) My Secret Love
(68) My Wish Tonight
(85) Near to You
(76) Never Far
(34) Nights with You
(78) No One More Real
(53) No Words Can Come
(72) Obscurity
(13) On Awakening One Morning
(3) On the Death of My Grandfather
(77) Only You
(60) Our Forgotten Love
(17) Our Past
(6) Passing Outdoors on a Summer Night
(45) Perchance We've Met
(18) Reply to a Curse
(16) Road to Nowhere
(28) Said of Love
(31) Self Portrait
(27) Since You Are Gone
(26) Sometimes When You Look in His Eyes
(10) Somnolence
(37) Spring Dance
(52) Still
(24) Summer Night
(88) The Beauty of Your Hair
(61) The Decadence of Modern Art
(75) The Night Before Christmas
(79) The Wind Speaks Your Name
(22) There More Real
(50) These Three Things
(44) This Day
(89) Three Little Words
(51) To Begin Again
(58) To My Unseen Love
(63) To Sara
(64) To the Pseudo-Christians
(42) Together
(25) Transience
(4) Variance
(57) Wasted
(54) What Goes Around Comes Around
(23) Where Once You Were
(91) White Clouds
(90) With You
(84) You Are the Best
(86) You Have Touched Me
(70) Your Dear, Sweet Letters
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