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~

Unfathomable

In youth five summers reached eternity
An hour was something loosely held
A day had moments to be squandered freely
We did not grieve the flowers we smelled
Or dreams which Time has felled

Life is an invisible passage of moments
A journey of forgotten pleasures
Now as I cradle its tender torment
And ponder its fleeting measures
I search for its deeper treasures

If life was simply a sequence of summers
Before we are laid in the dust
If Time were the dictator of our destination
How empty would be our trust
Prisoners of humanity’s lust

Above life’s circle in earths shifting sand
A solid truth prevails
Not one of us escapes the Hand
Holding Time’s brief exhale
Into eternity; unfathomable

Janet~

Words

Words, words, only words he said
But at his words I shook my head
For they are never only words
These are the syllables of healing and hurt
Word is the scalpel which slices the soul
And words are the ointment that makes us whole
Words are fire and words are ice
Words inspire and make us think twice
Words draw us in or shut us out
Words reassure, they whisper, they shout
Words embrace; they touch, they kiss
Is there a more potent tool than this?
Music is lovely it stirs the heart
But words to music are a powerful art
Words build and restore what other words crush
Words are the paint on a poet’s brush
Words, only words, perhaps that is true
But tell me, what is it that drew me to you?

Janet~

Since we 're on the topic of words...this is a re-run
from a year ago.

Tragedy

How long, it seems, we wait to say
The things we should speak every day
How oft a thought a thought remains
When spoken it would loosen chains
And it would put a little smile
Across a dark and weary mile
Or else perhaps that little sigh
Or the tear that dims the eye
Would never on the hour spill
Because we didn’t wait until
The thought had passed, unspoken; dead
Remaining words we never said

Janet~

Encounter by the Sea

I came upon her standing there
To ask her grief I did not dare
For she seemed to be gazing where
Only thoughts can wander
The sun in gold and pink and red
On the far-west horizon bled
And in her eyes gleamed tears unshed
As she stared over yonder

Ah, let her mind the keeper be
Of love and sorrow’s agony
That Gate afar will set her free
From temporal heartaches binding
Ah, let the waters ebb and flow
And soothe the thought that none may know
Grief and longing cannot go
Across death’s stream a-winding

The evening fell beneath the sea
I hear the knell of memory
Where none can tell its lot but me
And I care not for talking
I came upon her standing there
Silence can be so sweet to share
A shadow cannot speak a prayer
But I can join her walking…

J~

Recollections

Later, as I try to recall this night
Well, I very easily might
Forget how the air was ripe with pain
And heavy with the fragrance of impending rain
Or the thoughts we longed to tell and re-tell
Where two lone dark shadows fell
Or how the half-moon hung high in the sky
Too far away to hear you and I
I might forget how the breezes died
To honor the silence before we cried
But I will never forget the blue of your eye
Or the way your voice broke, when you whispered…good-bye

J~

On Porches...

On porches we wait…
For school buses
Or daddies
To come home from work
We wait for moms to pick up children,
Before heading home to start supper
And sometimes we wait for love
On porches we wait...
For the sun to set
Or to watch it rise
We wait for children
Or for a ride
Or for dreams
To materialize
On porches we wait…
With loved ones
Or books
We wait
With coffee
Or tea
With guitars, harmonicas
A pipe
Or memories
We watch the rain fall
On porches we wait…
On steps
On a bench
Or a chair
We wait
While breezes run
Their fingers through our hair
And thoughts paint each stair
On porches we grow old
In the cool night air

Janet~