If it pleases you

 Image from here

What will I have you say to me?

I have been in love with you

From the moment our eyes shyly met

I have been in love with you

And longed for you to know

I have been in love with you

and soaked my dreams with you

till they, swollen and saturated,

lay heavy on my chest

We cannot move, they said

until you relieve us

of the burden of your undeclared longing

So, here I am

declaring that

you have the right

No, more than that, the power

No, more than that, the magic

No, more than that, the means

No, more than that, the desire

to wring my dreams dry

so they may soar at once to Heaven

where you and I have reserved a courtyard

drenched with the perfume of a thousand lilies

and adorned by fragile curtains of softly falling snow

and within which, roaring with the warmth of crackling cedar

there burns a voluptuously brilliant fire at the foot of our velvet grass bed

while, for our ears only, the Love Angel plucks ripe notes

off his ancient dulcimer

Just say then, if it pleases you,

that you are in love with me too

If I spoke of Love

I ache for him

I know not why

Despite welcome distractions others provide

unknowing of my torment

it is his soul it seems

that has cleaved with mine

Have I presumed too much

 in thinking that, like me,

he has cowered in the harshness of

unbending conventions

heedless as they are

 of the only law the soul would observe?

What then would he say

if I spoke of love?

How would he feel?

Would it bring unbearably sweet relief to him

as it would to me

were he to declare

in one unguarded moment

(that’s all it would take):

I ache for you too?

Riposte

Oh Fool!

Parade not in the nakedness of Love

Stick instead with the role you know best:

High Prisoner of our necessary fears

and speak

if you do at all

of something uncharged with risk like

a new project

You know

some such banal pretext that

Convention

(Hail Holy Her!)

 would roundly approve!

You are loved

 
If you thought you traveled 

alone

dragging your load

as you do

across the deserts of your

stolen dreams

tossed about wantonly by

furious winds and 

ingratiating high tides

then you can't have seen the magic that has awaited you

day after enchanting day

in the powdered concrete that glistens 

even beneath overcast skies

and upon which you walk 

mind and body apart

or heard the dragon's contented roar

escaping from hurrying cars

that grate and grind past you

or touched the slender waxy tubes

of the fuschia

that have at last fallen to the ground

after their week-long fanfare

Nor would you have tasted 

the slow release of saliva

sweet in its anticipation 

of the marshmallow that will crown the 

frothy hot mocha you order every morning

or felt the feathery caress of the breath of

ten thousand angels 

assigned by Heaven

to be your constant company

and heard them adoringly whisper
again and again and again:

You are loved

As it must

And when this love affair

as we know it

ends, my love,

as all love affairs must

leaving in its place and time

-Infinity and Eternity- 

no less

a yet unexplored Vista

a dungeon of Paradise

a Holy Well of endless depth

unfolding

as it does

from our mother's womb

She who was always 

our first love

returning again and again to it

we will have learned

My Love

that nothing 

ever dies

only transforms 

before our 

slumbered eyes

and within our

yearning souls

according to where we 

take our position

to view ourselves

again and again and again

in this our Paradise

No, I wouldn't

In the turning phases of the moon

Your warmth and coolness

ebb and flow

distractions that

burn and freeze

my soul

footprints

that disappear

when I get close enough

to touch your

fantasies

Did you ever think

I'd abandon

you 

for the 

fickle feelings

that 

pervade 

the invisible trails

we have walked

a million years?

The Universe will explode

When you and I

finally meet

it will be

no surprise

to the Universe

but that won't mean

that She will not

explode 

with infinite 

joy

And all the 

fragile strands

of connection

that She has

magically woven

into the

flowering of our love

will hold us

in lifetimes of

rapture

Footnote

I created this digital picture last night and found the words for it this morning.  Both reflect the beliefs and expectations I have of a *new* relationship :)

The Quiet Voice

See those shadows on the ground?

Consider then 

The Quiet Voice

She speaks to you

even when 

you're not 

listening

She can't help herself

and doesn't try to

for she is 

Truth

stripped naked

disarmingly so

Your faithful servant

and unyielding master

Don't try to deny her

Ignore her

suppress her

Such actions 

leave you disturbed

unsettled

a cauldron of

rumbling

grumbling

sneering

howling

bleating

menacing 

irksome

emotons

and

thoughts

But when you heed 

The Quiet Voice

and submit

without knowing 

how or when or what or where

yet certain and reassured that

she is 

life itself

without whom 

you cannot exist

Why, she summons

the entire force of 

the Universe

to assemble at your feet

ready to 

fashion all things

as you please!

Don't blink. Don't Think.

Pay attention to me!

Can't you see

what I'm doing?

It's not as easy as you think

so watch ME

not 

him

even though

my eyes

follow his every movement

tight as a hawk

ready to pounce

and shred

at the slightest

hint

of a mis-step

an error of judgment

a wavering perception

a momentary doubt

Ah, never underestimate

the singular dedication 

of my 

preying eyes

Not for the briefest 

moment

a nanosecond of time!

In short

Don't blink.

Don't think.

You

I'll play to you

Sing for you

Breathe the

uni-verse

in you

I will touch you

with my heartbeats

and caress you

with my sighs

Though my soul crawls

across the gravel

and the dirt

on which it bleeds

Just to see your

eyes twinkle

is soothing balm

upon my open sores

I'll delight you

if you'll let me

I'll adore you

though you turn away

Just be patient

a little longer

your old man

is rising to his feet

Now his demons

are departing

fleeing from

his holy wrath

And tomorrow

when you wake up

touch him with

forgiving eyes

Oh I will sing for you

delight you

caress you

free you from my wrongs

I'll adore you

and devote you

to Orpheus

god of song!

Footnote

I heard somewhere that Billy Joel refuses to put the lyrics of his songs in print with his cds.  He believes that the lyrics of songs do not and should not be spoken outside of their melodies.  (For an idea of what this might mean, think of the lyrics of Hard Day's Night and try just saying rather than singing them)

I wrote these words as lyrics of a song.  The melody and words sort of came together.  I guess I'm trying to suggest a reason why they might feel a bit strange when spoken or read rather than sung :)

How's your coffee?

I'm sorry

what did you say?

Oh, I just wondered

if your coffee was 

alright?

My coffee?

Hardly noticed

Not when there's

all this

so much of

all this

and 

all that

and doing one

means 

missing the rest

And missing 

your coffee

LISTEN TO THIS POEM

The road to anywhere

The road to anywhere

could just as well be

the road to nowhere

Wherever it's taken me

It's always brought me

home

LISTEN TO THIS POEM

But today, she smiled

She couldn't smile

Was it any wonder?

breaking, as she was, into pieces

It wasn't fair

she'd said

Why did he have to go?

What was the point

of being here

without him?

He was the love of her life

she'd said, predictably, 

as,

still suspended in disbelief,

she shook her head

In silence

I watched her and listened

certain I could say nothing

to ease her pain

or cast out the cruel loneliness

that had seized her heart 

threatening to steal 

his place

But today

she smiled

as she threw petals of chrysanthemum

on the sun-drenched river

Smiling with plump memories

and frothy gratitude

for all their years together

and all the years since 

LISTEN TO THIS POEM

NOTE  I edited this recently so a couple of words may be different to what you hear :)

Sun and Lover

 

As dusk stealthily advances

to swallow the sun

which spits and hisses

and ducks and dives

helplessly

 like a candle flame

dancing frenziedly

on its last drop of wax 

the lover,

burns parting kisses 

on his mistress' breasts

and,

stepping out,

sees 

that the sun 

has also,

 in passionately reluctant departure,

  kissed the sky

ablaze

LISTEN TO THIS POEM

You do remember, don't you?

You do remember, don't you

the kisses that you scattered

upon my scorching skin

the first summer of our romance?

How autumn,

in her final refrain,

found us lustfully entwined?

And that,
even as winter frosted,

the flames of our longings

burned ever more feverishly?

You do remember

for look how your eyes
search me
 as if retrieving
each of those glorious moments
arousing each one
as the sun does
eager buds
in spring

LISTEN TO THIS POEM

Beyond the searching gaze of my eyes

Beyond the searching gaze of my eyes

awaits the calming embrace

of your slow, silken love

I swear I do not know

how such fortune

fell upon me

that when I least expected it

you appeared 

like the warm, comforting glow

of a late autumn afternoon

upon my vacant home

keeping it, thereafter,

sturdy and stable on the outside

trembling with passion 

on the inside

Is it any wonder then

that I love

coming home?

LISTEN TO THIS POEM

 

What a day!

What a day!

I ventured out early

with a million things on my mind

Carry-overs from 

a hundred days before

(It could easily have been

ten million)

And when, finally,
I trudged home
weary and wasted

it seemed as if I'd accomplished
little

hardly enough

to get me through 

another day

except

for the fact

that I knew

you'd soon be home too

and somehow

(don't ask me how)

I'd find 

 the will

to do it all again

LISTEN TO THIS POEM