Release

I would have kept your words
But they were not mine to keep
Yet, I cannot tear them from my heart
Or silence them with sleep

Words leave no marks upon the air
Invisible, they seem
But words can pour in torrents where
The silence of thought streams

I would have kept your words
Yet, I cannot set them free
Life is formed by what is heard
As much as by what we see….

J~

Remembering...

There is so much of you I wish you’d show me
But you prefer to do things your own way
And oh, I wish that you would choose to tell me
The words that I cannot force you to say

I remember when you had no secrets from me
And I could almost know just what you’d say
But time is taking you a little farther
Down a road that’s paved with yesterdays

And I won’t hold you back, dear daughter
I remember walking down the self-same road
And never thinking that perhaps a mother
Stood somewhere with tears and watched me go

Janet~

My Master-piece

Oh, if I could paint with more
Than letters pressed in rows
I’d paint myself a master-piece
Of night-time as it flows
From high and hush-ed altitude
Creating shades so pure
Earth replies with robes subdued
In tones dark and demure

The life which clamors for my thought
In scattered shades of gray
Within this masterpiece are caught
And softly brushed away
As evening bleeds across the west
In red, metallic sheen
And little cares are put to rest
With all that once had been

High in the east the pale white moon
Hangs in a deep blue sea
While dashing zephyrs strum a tune
Through silhouetted tree
If I could paint with more than pen
My heart would over-flow
And the night would teach me then
Where dark and light should go

And I would take a large, soft brush
With colors of a sigh
And all the thoughts of you that rush
To gather in my eye
Gently infusing subtle hues
Across the quiet deep
I would entitle it My Muse
Before I fell asleep

J~

Night and Nothing More

With subtle hands the day is clad
In robes of deeper hue
Its pastures which were light and glad
Are heavy now with dew
I am happy, I am sad
And I am missing you

The shaded grove where children played
Are moon-kissed now, and still
The passion of high noon is laid
Beyond the darkened hill
My noonday thoughts are worn and frayed
I sigh, against my will

Upon the bosom of the sky
The dazzling starlight gleams
It is caught within my eye
And in Time’s sully streams
It gives no thought of you and I
Or things as slight as dreams


J~

Nearby

Far away the muted curtain
Of the twilight steals the day
Seems that I can hear an ocean
On a seashore…far away

Far away the day is dawning
On the brink of softened sky
All that I can hear is longing
In the roving breezes sigh

Far away a dim-lit spangle
Frames the low-light of the moon
Thought, resolve, desire tangles
In a sultry midnight tune

The night is silent as a hallway
Leading to a darkened room
I can hear the shadows falling
Where the fragrant linden bloom

Far away a strong hand reaches
To firmly lock and bolt the door
Far away the whitewashed beaches
Cradle turquoise oceans roar

But the whisper and the aching
And the memory of your sigh
Linger just beyond my taking
In a room untouched…nearby

J~

Lost Inhibitions

My eyes do a quick assessment
Absorbing the common curves of this room
I’ll pick up a pen for a moment
To remove the mundane-ness from a mop and a broom

Dishwater madness flings sudden inspiration
Not remotely related to dishes or chores
But letters and syllables in particular arrangements
Carrying me far from life’s wearying shores

Brush away the longing from out of the skies
Breathe tiny sorrows into the far mists
Kiss the teardrop that gleams in love’s eyes
And leave vague tomorrows where nothing exists

The painter may choose varied shades for his vision
Molding and shaping masterpieces of art
I need nothing more than lost inhibition
As life walks effortlessly over my heart

My eyes do a quick assessment
There is nothing common then
It’s astounding where one can travel
With the alphabet, paper and pen…


Janet~

Music...

Our song is too heavy
For me to listen to
It loses its magic
Somehow, without you
Poetry is beautiful
But its lure turns deep blue
Penned in deliberation
Somehow, without you…

Summer is passion
Captured in July
Azure heavens
Lost in downcast eyes
Winds sweep unbridled
Into the blue
But it stirs no impulses
Somehow, without you

Flowers bloom rampant
A feast to the eye
There is no garden
Quite like July
But it seems to me
It has lost its bright hue
Gardens are more somber
Somehow, without you

Moments are heart-beats
Of longing and love
Moments are music
To which we all move
But the song is too heavy
To listen to
I cannot dance, babe
Somehow, without you…

J~

Tribute to the Daisy

You did not choose the well-groomed bed
Or steal the rose’s coat of red
But silently you bloom instead
In humbler haunts and hollows
Along secluded path and lane
In ditches, hollows, field and plain
Watered by sweet heaven’s rain
And warm, meandering shallows

The wanderer’s pathway you embrace
The lover’s lane you softly grace
Or lift a kind and gentle face
To those who seek life’s pardon
While rivals bloom in aureate gold
And flaunt their grandeur loud and bold
Your tender petals you unfold
In some lost drifter’s garden

No requirements, no demands
You do not prick unwary hands
But wander ‘cross the summer lands
In free and heedless passion
Simplicity in argent shower
Adorning garden, hill and bower
Poetry wrought in a flower
Of pure and perfect fashion

Janet~