As Naturally as Breathing

No more have I the power to force love
Than I am able to draw the flower from a bud
If I could force love then I know that I
Could coax from the cocoon, a butterfly

I cannot insist that you love me
Love is the eternal mystery
Beyond reason and beyond measure
It is the foundation of life’s richest treasure

My dear, if I could then I would tell you
Why I love you the way I do
But I cannot; I know only this
Loving you is my bitter-sweet bliss

Loving you comes as naturally as breathing
I don’t contemplate its rhyme or reason
And if you should in return love me
I would humbly reply, my dear, I thank thee

J~

Those Thoughts of You

Those thoughts of you…

Sometimes they waft like a song in the air
Or prey on my mind like an unspoken prayer

Sometimes they march in an orderly line
And sometimes they trickle in drops down my spine

Sometimes those thoughts of you simply hover
Above and around me; an intangible cover

Sometimes they’re the face I am calmly tracing
And sometimes they set my pulses racing

Sometimes it’s thoughts of you that keep
Me awake; sometimes they lull me to sleep

A quiver, a shiver, cascading then calm
Closer than ever, your heart in my palm

Love me, love me not; it’s the game they play
But they will not, oh just will not stay away

Janet~

Dreamer

Once, not so very long ago
T’was I who would sit here, you know
Bare-feet dangling in the air
Best friends came in teddy bears
How was I, pray tell, to know
Just how fast the years would flow?

Once when I was just like you
I could be a dreamer too
But time can be a ruthless stream
Tearing from the heart, a dream
I smile to see you sitting there
Once I was you, without a care

Janet~

Song of the Night

It drifts from the shore
A melancholy tune
Sung by the stars
and the man in the moon
It ripples the fields
Of silver grass
Nature’s piano
and it’s first-class
I hear its soft strain
In the breezes that sigh
A soulful refrain
Trickling ‘cross the sky
It moans in the alley
And on the dark street
Weeps in the valley
Aches in each heart-beat
A wordless symphony
Permeating the air
Resonating deeply
Like the peace in a prayer
The music fades
A hush descends
Quietly I plead
Won’t you play it again?

Janet~

Sighs

All you could hear was a sigh
You missed the tear as it fell from my eye
The down-cast gaze, the trembling lips
Are not revealed in the sigh that slips

I don’t mean to sound sad and blue
But when you’re not around I miss you
It seems like we’re always saying good-bye
And all that you hear is a sigh

Telephones are wonderful, my dear
The touch of your voice in my ear
But I wish I could hold you and look in your eyes
For all you can hear are my sighs

J~

Ode to the Afternoon

I did not want you to leave me
You’re a soul-mate through and through
With your smile as soft as sunshine
And your eye of perfect blue
But I see you slipping from me
Soundless footsteps falling where
I languished in your arms of leisure
For an hour without a care

I would beg for one more hour
If I thought that you would stay
But you do not have the power
To add minutes to my day
Yet, should I entwine my fingers
In the essence of your sigh
If I whisper little secrets
Would you then postpone good-bye?

I hate it when I see you leaving
Oh, how soon you disappear
Already, silently I’m grieving
The hastening of a year
I rest my hand on your shoulder
Look into your pleasant gaze
Alas,I’m but a memory older
You have slipped into the haze

Janet~

Right now my days are simply not long enough……
Especially the afternoons!
I want to be outside….but duty demands otherwise!
Well, maybe I’ll slip out for an hour……
Does it really make any difference at the end of my life
If I’ve swept the floor…again?

Waves

You wash over me in torrents of longing
The touch of your fingers is too far away
Waves of emotion sweep over me, darling
Hold me in your arms and take me away

Take me to that place where we’ll be together
Port in a storm on life’s tumultuous sea
I would not even notice the weather
There in your arms with you holding me

Tempests of waiting and wishing and wanting
Rise from the ocean in waves of despair
Darling, the music is distant and haunting
You’re too far away as you sit in that chair

Janet~

The Color of Lonely

The word ‘lonely’ can not tell you
Just how lonely it can be
It does not echo the tick of the clock
As I wait here quietly
And reach to touch the color
Of its somnolent caress
But it seems to me I cannot
See what color lonely is…..
As melancholy whispers
Sigh through April’s naked trees
Alone, alone it murmurs
In the rain and on the breeze
Yet no one can quite tell you
How lonely ‘lonely’ is….
Or how it can fill you
With an aching tenderness

The shadow where the willow sways
And purple midnight falls
Is tinted in dark, moody grays
A damp and morbid shawl
The tap that drips in perfect time
And off-beat symmetry
To the ticking of the clock
Is a lonesome melody
As minutes become hours
Before hours turn to days
And ‘lonely’ with a thousand hands
Cannot be brushed away
Or moved into a corner
Where it cannot interfere
‘Lonely’ is the color
Of a poet’s heart, I fear

Janet~