Once held with real affection,
Bringing happiness and joy,
Or solace in those times
When you were sad.
Now all they do is sit there,
In a closet, or a box,
Remembering the good times
They once had.

Still, something in their make-up,
In the way you held them close,
And whispered little secrets,
In their ears,
Brought life to wood and velvet,
Gave them personalities,
That shared your happy times, and
All your fears.

Now, old toys sit and wonder,
(The forgotten sometimes do),
If they’ll soon be invited
To your games,
But new joys keep you busy,
And new loves fill your life,
It won’t be long ‘til you
Forget their names.

There was a time,
When we invented words,
To describe feelings that were
Too new to have descriptions,
Or even names,
But, in our hearts,
We knew what they meant.

There was a time,
When it only took your sigh,
To tell me that you were
Sending me the love of
A lifetime,
And I could say thank you
With just a smile.

But that was a time,
Long ago,
And all I have left are
The echoes of those words,
And the worn out phrases,
That look like, “I love you”,
But sound like a muffled bell,
A voice, fading slowly away,
Into the growing mist.

Tell me once again,
That I bring joy to your life,
That the things I do
Still touch something within you,
Something that still makes you smile.

Tell me once again,
How your caress will warm me,
Your kisses thrill me,
As you hold me close enough
For our hearts to beat as one.

Or tell me that my
Love is a forgotten dream,
Dissolved in the mist,
Melted into the new day,
That you have chosen to live.

Tell me if you can,
That my love is not in vain,
That my constant wish
To hear you say, I love you,
Is not wasted, once again.

Dreams become my reality,
Floating between wakefulness, and
Sleep,
Savoring the sensation of that
Last touch, that
Last kiss.
Knowing the dream will be
All I get in this life.
I fear dying, not for the death,
But for a need to hold on,
So we can start our next life
Together.

Mountains, rivers, miles, and years,
Encompassed by a love
That knows no boundaries,
A love that ignores,
All that keeps it confined to
Love notes, and flowers.

It’s odd, isn’t it,
How you know what I want,
Before I even want it,
How you feel the need
Growing inside of me,
And answer that desire?

It’s even odder still,
How the little things we do,
Touch each other’s lives,
In ways, sometimes gentle,
Sometimes with a rush of passion,
Like a climax you didn’t see coming.

No, perhaps it isn’t odd,
Perhaps it should be expected,
When two minds share one soul,
And two hearts, filled to
Overflowing, with love,
Find peace within that soul.

I never chose to love you,
And you did not choose me,
Our souls searched for each other,
To set each other free.
You will always have those loves,
That grow, and fade away,
But I will have that part of you,
Which in my heart, will stay.

I may never touch your face,
Your eyes, I may not see,
But you will always have my soul,
Until you set it free.

Beyond the day I knew I was
A memory, fondly held, perhaps,
But still, more a part of the past,
Than the future, I started my days
With expectation, with hope,
Touching a stone, for luck.

Old men believe in luck,
And in magic, it keeps them
From seeing their place in time.
It dulls the pain of knowing
The rest of their bridges
Will be crossed in darkness, alone.

It doesn’t hurt so much, anymore.
The images beneath the lamps
Are just shadows,
The mist has closed in
Around the bridges,
But the scent of roses, lingers on.

I’ve twisted words around every
Image I thought I saw,
Trying to draw the right picture,
Send the right message,
But their staleness let them crumble,
Even as I watched them form.

My pen’s run dry,
And the paper stays blank,
No matter how much I scratch at it.
I feel like a desire that can’t find
Something to focus on,
A hunger that can’t find a flavor.

“I love you”, was a lifetime ago,
No, a dozen lifetimes ago,
All the I love you’s of my life,
Like seeds, rattling in a dried gourd,
Their dryness mocking me,
For thinking they had life,
Sitting by the brooks and waterfalls,
Watching the damned clouds.

You tease me, laughing
At my indecision, a tiger cub,
Torn between desire and nature,
Wanting to play,
Needing to be bold.

You tell me stories,
Fairy tales, fanning the flames
Of my passion, fueling the fire
That burns beneath the surface,
Ready to rage.

I reach out, into the mist,
Grasping at ethereal forms,
Words, wafted on the wind,
Promises in paisley teardrops,
Falling through my fingers, like the dew

We dream our together-dreams,
Seeking in the shadows,
That which can only exist
Behind eyes, shut against the light,
Wanting only to be held, gently.

I am the Sea,
Lifeblood of the Mother,
And the womb of life,
I nurture storms, crush continents,
And feed the world.
My children hide the sun,
And wash the sins of man,
From the land.
I keep their secrets within me,
And carry their lonely souls
From heart ache to heart ache.

I am the sand,
Once noble as a mountain,
Now tossed by wind and sea,
Filling the hollow places
And scars upon the Earth.
I am the voice of humility,
The fate of the tallest peaks,
Falling through fingers, like time,
Like love, untended.

Love is the need to give,
The desire to empty your soul
Of riches, into the
Coffers of your loved one.
Love is the way your muscles tense
And the way the rhythm of your body
Begins, when you notice her scent.

Love is the way time stands still,
And today stretches into forever,
When you and your love
Are together.
Love is the peace that comes with
Falling asleep in her arms.

But for some, love is a dream,
A hopeless ideal, held on to
Out of desperation,
Against the pain of loneliness.
For some, love is the knowledge
That each night will be the same,
Cold and empty, quiet and alone.

For some, love is just a gift,
Held in a pose of supplication,
Reaching out to arms that will
Never return the embrace,
And the knowledge that
The joy of a nibbling kiss
Will never be felt, nor the coy smile
That follows, will ever be seen.

For some, love is what another
Will enjoy, and another will feel,
In the arms you so want to know.
For some, love is an agony.

I made believe I was the shepherd,
Chasing after my cloud-sheep,
Sitting on mountain tops,
Playing my flute,
A song that would make you
Smile.

But you weren’t there,
And the wind
Blew the sheep away,
And it really should have
Rained today.

Life is like that,
One day your spirits are up,
Then down, then up.
Each time getting
Heavier, and heavier,
Until finally, your heart can’t
Hold them up, and they
Fall to earth.

But if you have
Love,
If someone really cares
About you,
They help you lift those
Spirits,
And then they don’t seem
So heavy.