Dear Sweet Child

Dear sweet child, so innocent,
So bursting with good-will,
You teach me much, for many wrongs
My bitter spirit fill.

You show a lust and love for life
That I have nearly lost,
You show how greatly is the goal
Deserving of the cost.

So undefiled, my little one,
So eager for each day;
You give me hope that I might learn
To live again this way.

~

Poetry in Nature

Have you never heard the rhythm
Of a falling sheet of rain?
Heard the gentle pitter-patter
Of the droplets on the pane?

Or the leaves that fall in Autumn,
Softly tumbling to the ground,
Have you never heard the rhythm
Of that sweet Autumnal sound?

Has your heart lost touch with Nature?
Is your spirit deaf and blind?
Have you never cared to notice
What might take some time to find?

In the morning, in the evening,
In the mellow afternoon –
Balance is the orb of Nature;
Nothing is too late or soon.

Some sweet metronome, so faintly,
Keeps the rhythmic beat of Time,
Will you never stop to listen?
It is poetry in rhythm...
It is poetry in rhyme.

~

Based on a comment by Chesterton that free verse is missing all the true freedom and wildness of Nature... taking away meter is turning our backs to the rhythm of the whole world around us.

Take My Heart

Take my heart; it is broken!
Words like those are never spoken
Lest the one who speaks them does not care.
Here: take my heart, and you may wear
It wheresoever you should please.
You may soothe it at your ease:
One slight smile from week to week
Or month, or year,
Will bring a tear
Of joy, by which it cannot speak,
So mighty is your smile.

The heart that loves you does not ask
A weighty chore or dreary task,
But only that you take it! For,
Within your heart, as ne’er before,
It will be happy. Beating there
Beside your heart, and in your care.

Take it, dear, for it is broken –
Take it; I am but its token.
It has loved you, ever true;
Take it! It belongs to you.

~

Sept. 4, 2008

Dusk

Rather a rough-cut sonnet, I think...

A violet drapery curtaining the earth
With shades of midnight peering here and there –
Such calm reflection of an evening mirth
And quietude that follows pomp and flare…
Sunset gone; the eventide asleep
And, in the embered sky, so lately bright,
The nightly court their silent vigil keep
And guard His kingdom with their gentle light.
So little movement in their twinkling guard;
Serenity encompasses the sky,
And where the midday jungle blared and jarred,
At dusk we hear the echo of a sigh.

And I, so undeserving, witness this!
So dear! the sweet celestial bond of bliss.

~

Sadness

Why such sadness in the world? Look
At the poetry,
Incomplete phrases of broken-hearted
Souls that yearn
For something more.

Where is the hope? Sustaining
Life amid a dark and gloomy night –
Fled?
Helter-skelter from the
Doom –
Doom of sadness,
sadness… sadness and despair.

Look at the poetry,
Broken lines of
Broken pens
Scratching a heartless rhythm
On a cold
Uncaring paper.

Sadness, bleak, unwelcome,
Like the unexpected
Frost arriving mid-September.
None are ready
Or prepared,
But it still refuses,
Silently and sadly, it refuses
Ever to take its leave.

Staying, stretching
Like a viral hurricane,
Unwarranted, unleashed, unhindered.
And its darkness and its dreariness spread
Far over the lives of countless souls
Writing for despair,
Writing to get it out,
But etching it more finely in their own
Despairing souls
Even as they write it on the page.


Why such sadness?

~

Of Romance.

Of romance I have come to write:
Of romance in the morning light,
When all the world is fresh and new
The sun so bright, the sky so blue –
What romance! For our hearts were made
To love the beauty thus displayed.

The romance of a simple day
Is hard, in common words, to say,
For when the morning passes by,
The noonday hour is promptly nigh;
Such splendor in a golden bloom
Must drive away all woe and gloom!

Such romance as the sun declines,
A pen cannot, in paltry lines,
Attempt to trace its calm descent,
That gorgeous, glowing, grand event,
Wherein its light is madly strewn
Across the earth, all afternoon.

And eventide! Who can deny
The beauty of the evening sky
When, in a rich processional
And colors most incredible,
She sinks amid a regal court,
Her reign at eventide is short.

Oh! All the day I bask in bliss
To feel that tender sunny kiss
Which gives our earth its warmth and light,
And paints a most delicious sight,
Enchanting us with every glance –
A daily and divine romance!

~

To Write of Love

If clever 'tis to write of love,
I clever am. Yet who,
In feeling love come over him
(As I have, dear, with you),
Would not take up his pen in haste
And write a burning verse
To that dear soul who brought the flame
And that most blessèd curse?

For love is joy and love is pain
And myst'ry unrevealed,
Yet love is sought, and love is loved --
Through joy its pains are healed.
And you and I, but one more case,
As special as the rest,
Will find that love is hard but good,
And certainly the best.

Magic Muse

At night, when all the world's asleep
And tucked away in bed,
My pen and I are wide awake
And writing this instead.

A verse, another, then one more --
The Muse's magic touch
Has swayed my heart to poems,
And the late result is such.

Why Night awakens Muses
I am hard put, yet, to see,
But I do not mind it really,
For -- you know -- it pleases me.

Such a pleasant pastime, writing,
And then later, to repeat,
When the time and touch are perfect,
That same fascinating treat.

When the weary world is sleeping,
I am lying on my bed,
Spinning posies from the heavens
With a Magic Muse, instead.

Romantic ~

If I could be romantic, dear,
I'd write a verse for you,
Of life and love and happiness
And why the world is new.

A merry verse, of joy and cheer
And blessings for our love--
And attributes that you possess
From God, in heaven above.

I'd tell you when I loved you first,
And how I loved you best...
Though other men have come and gone,
You passed up all the rest.

Not just specifics -- how your smile
Is warm and kind and bright --
How when you laugh or when you tease,
Your eyes spark in delight,

But everything, and most of all
The things I cannot place,
A certain manner, or the looks
That linger on your face.

But, dear, I'm not romantic,
So I'd best stop ere I start,
Just telling you I love you,
And I mean it from the heart.

"How I Love You" : Song Lyrics

If you know the song "Hallelujah" from Shrek, then you're acquainted with the melody for the following words. I rewrote the lyrics, and it's meant to be a wedding song.

I know there is a secret chord
And hearts in love, of one accord,
Sing sweetly to its music, "How I love you!"

The melody is very clear:
A harmony we all can hear,
When we find the heart that tells us "How I love you!"

How I love you, how I love you!
How I love you – how I love you.

The heart is strong and full of life,
So, welcome suff'ring, welcome, strife!
I'll sing this song forever, for I love you!

You took my heart, my hand, my love,
And ev'rything I'm worthy of,
And lifted me to heaven, for I love you.

How I love you, how I love you!
How I love you – how I love you.

Maybe there will come a day
When life is rough and it's hard to say,
With a willing heart and soul, how much I love you.

But life is quaint, with its ups and downs,
And love survives the tears and frowns
With a joyful and more fervent "How I love you!"

How I love you, how I love you!
How I love you – how I love you.

For, since we've been one heart in two,
There's little that this world can do
To ever tell my heart it doesn't love you.

For love is stronger than this earth:
Immortal wings have brought it birth –
Eternally we'll sing it: "How I love you!"

How I love you, how I love you!
How I love you – how I love you.

And now we pray to God above
To bless our union and our love,
And may He be the reason that I love you.

For love that's born of earthly things
Will die amid great sufferings,
But God is Love Eternal, so I love you!

How I love you, how I love you!
How I love you – how I love you.

How I love you, how I love you!
How I love you – how I love you.