ORIGINAL POETRY - PAGE 7

FOREVER BELOVED

Fortune smiled upon a life
Of misery and despair,
Reality was kind to one
Ever lost in a world of care.
Virtue was the gift you gave
Ecstasy your master plan,
Reawakening a heart and soul
By the gentle touch of your hand.
And even when the darkest days
Lingered on to even darker night,
O how you fought to bring about a
Vestige of life giving light.
Every day I thank the power
That brought you unto me,
Dearest love I am now yours
And ever shall I be. (10-3-2000/mbh)

CYBER-WORLD

I explore myself in this cyber world
And think of how things have changed,
It seems only yesterday I was a but a girl
Now I've given my heart free range.

The freedom to explore without a moral thought
Without the ties that bind,
Without a care for any other heart
Without a need to be kind.

O how lost I seem to me
How I've fallen into this trap,
How my heart gives a start at the thought of you
Like a mouse before a thunder clap.

How I wish you could see past all that I
Have not allowed you to see,
To view the me behind the mask
To know all that I am and could be,

If you would but steer me on a course that's true
Allow your flags o'er me to unfurl,
Then I could dwell in the reality of you again
And have no need for this cyber world. (10-6-2000/kk)

WORTHY

Many years ago, though time it seems
Has a way of making fools of men,
A young girl grew into a woman and found
She had feelings for a man she knew then.

The feelings were sweeter than any before
She had ever come to know,
So she clung to them tightly and felt her heart ache
As the feelings began daily to grow.

At first there was a tiny twinge
When the sound of his voice graced her ear
Then later she found that mere thoughts of him
Would coax gently from her eyes a tear.

She carried her love like a torch before her
Lighting her path each day,
She wrapped herself in her love like a mantle
Each night to protect her as she lay.

Try as she may to convey to the man
The depths of her love for him true,
Never it seemed would he understand
So her feelings she began to rue.

He seemed some moments to want and need
All the love she had to give,
Then other times he seemed to want
Only space, and without her to live.

So she tossed her love aside each morn
Vowing never to love him again,
But each night as she lay alone in her bed
In her dreams t'was to him that she ran.

Then she would awaken to only discover
The truth of what she ne're could deny,
That though she purposed to show not her love
To herself she could never lie.

She would wait, until time stood still
Until all things that are, are now past,
And love her beloved eternally
To prove herself worthy at last. (10-6-2000/mbh)

HAVE PATIENCE

Have patience my sweet one, be still and don't cry
I am never truly far from you,
Have patience until I can hear your sweet sigh
And together our love renew.

Have patience I hear you say once again
As your heart speaks softly to mine,
Have patience my love there will soon come a day
When with me you will be for all time.

I hear your words but they make no sense
In the light of things that you do,
They seem as seeds falling on barren ground
When actions serve to make words untrue.

O how I long to believe what you say
To hold every word in good stead,
O how my heart longs to trust in your love
But my heart competes with my head.

My head is the one that sees only the truth
And distorts naught with rose coloured light,
My head is the voice of reason so strong
That my heart falls prey to its might.

My head tells me that if you felt as I
Then nothing could keep us apart
That you would never want me any farther away
Than the softest beat of your heart.

My head says that you will never be what I want
Never love me the way that I need,
That you are too busy with your own pursuits
There's no room for my thought, word or deed.

But my heart, ever loving, ever mindful of you
Pleads your case both night and day,
My heart stands vigil over all you are
To me and over all that you say.

Not one word has by my heart been forgotten
Not one look, one glance, one smile,
My heart will forever remember this road
We travel, every heart wrenching mile.

"So what to do," I wonder aloud,
Will we ever be happy together?
What can I do to convey that I
Would be willing to wait forever?

If only I could be certain of all
That your heart toward me does feel,
If only I could know your thoughts
That someday this dream would be real.

"So what to do," I wonder again,
Should I remain with him or part?
What to do is the question I pose...
"Have patience," says my mind and my heart. (10-7-2000/mbh)

SECOND CHANCE

Though it seems a thousand lifetimes
Since my eyes last glimpsed your words,
I knew that time could never cease
My heart's o'erflowing surge.

A surge of longing that ever grips
My soul in its talons sharp,
A surge of desire that plucks my soul
Like the strings of a celestial harp.

A surge of want, of need, desire
That cleanses me day and night,
A surge of hope that seems to make
The wrong in my life right.

I sit and read each line tonight
As they appear before my eye,
And yet my mind can scarce believe
Just how they draw me nigh.

Closer to you than e're before
Yet still I curse the fate,
That caused the parting of our ways
That spurned our love with hate.

Can friendship ever blossom again
In the light of such enmity?
Can forgiveness reign supreme once more
Through a bond of such fragility?

Dare I hope that you feel as I
That you know the longing of my soul,
That we will be able to assuage our fears
And doubts and together grow old? (10-10-2000/picot)

HOW DOES IT FEEL?

How does it feel for you to know
You'll never again touch my brow,
That never again you'll hear my voice
That I'm utterly lost to you now?

How does it feel to realize
That you and I are through,
Over and done with, Never to love
And there's no one to blame save you?

How does it feel to understand
The finality of these words,
To read this prose that is ripped from my soul
Like a wailing funeral dirge?

Can you at last see past your nose
Your pursuits and past your desires?
To recognize the sacrifice
Of my dreams to your hateful fires?

The fires of ambition and self centeredness
That has you firmly in its embrace,
The fires of yearning for all but me
That separates you from the grace

Of love that sought to ever enfold you
So you'd never again be alone,
The grace that created me just for you
For the seeds of love that we'd sown.

The grace that promised a life time together
That promised we'd never part
The grace that now succumbs to the knife
Of rejection you've thrust through my heart.

You could have shown me you wanted me
That all that I am was enough,
To see you through any situation
Through any no matter how tough.

But all that I felt was the knowledge
That I'd ever only be second best,
That perhaps I'd share your existence
But never be allowed access to the rest.

Your time, your heart, yes even your love
Would be squandered day in and day out,
And I would be left with only the dregs
Of what's left and of that there's no doubt.

And so to the one who was dearest to me
And shall never by my heart be recanted,
How does it feel to know you've lost the one
That for so long your heart took for granted? (10-11-2000/mbh)

SLEEP

Dream no more tonight my dear
Rest well your weary head,
Toss and turn no more my love
Find peace upon your bed.

For the sun will soon rise from the east
To blaze across the sky,
So rest my love for all too soon
The morning will draw nigh.

Come lie with me enfolded here
Within the shelter of my embrace,
Close your eyes while I gaze upon
The softness of your face.

Pillow your head upon my shoulder strong
As I protect you from all harm,
There's naught to disturb your slumber
While you breathe within my arms.

I'll stand watch over you this night
Kissing your eyelids fair,
Let fly your fears to the world unseen
Now sleep without a care.

And I will awaken you upon the morn
To rise and greet the sun,
With a heart so light and full of love
Knowing ever we two are one. (10-13-2000/jmp)

BITTERSWEET BLESSING

I felt you go from me today
The pain would not subside,
So deep within my heart I went
To softly grieve and hide.

You had become so much a part
Of my every waking thought,
That now a day without you here
Is a trap in which I'm caught.

A trap that has me firmly bound
Within its grasp and yet,
The bittersweet remembrances
Of you I can never regret.

For never have I longed for one
Such as I have for you,
And never have I dreamed a dream I
Dared to wish come true.

I loved you from the moment that
I knew you dwelt with me,
I hoped beyond all hope perhaps
My love was all you'd need.

But when I felt your soul depart
And leave me here alone,
I wept for the blessing of having known you
And I wept that you were gone. (10-16-2000/jmp)

IMAGERY OF HOPE

Hope is the infinite sand
On the seashore of our lives,
Blown into the fragile glass
Called the dreams of our youth,
Coveted and nurtured into the
Fine crystal of maturity,
Lying shattered and in ruin
As the regrets of Old Age. (10-16-2000/kk)

QUEST

I seek to know
The truth of lies
The knowledge of blissful ignorance
The courage of fear.

I seek to understand
The enmity of friendship
The poverty of prosperity
The hunger of fulfillment.

I seek to experience
The joy of sorrow
The smile through pain
The laughter beyond tears.

I ache to discover
All that I can be
In the light of who I am
When seen through your eyes. (10-21-2000/jmp)

LONGING

Fear washes over my soul
Like cascading waters down a mountain side.
Pain crashes upon the shores
Of my heart as a tidal wave
Upon the sands of a long forgotten beach.
I sit, night after night,
Alone.

Tears fall down my cheeks
Like drops of rain from dark clouds above.
Darkness passes over my face
As I hug my knees tightly to my chest
And rock back and forth.
I cry, hour upon hour,
Alone.

My soul drifts upon the tides of despair
As shattered bits of twigs and
Leaves upon a stifling breeze.
My life waits in the shadow of hope
To bathe once again in the dawn of happiness,
I smile, moment by moment,
Alone. (10-21-2000/mbh)

ALLEGORY OF MY LIFE

Sitting on the bank of the river of my life
I watch the waters drift slowly past.
Bits of daily debris float aimlessly on
Toward the unseen sea of my future.
Dams of monotony and selfish cynicism
Seek to stifle the creative flow.
Pebbles of trials and tribulation
Are tossed beneath the depths,
Sending ripple after ripple of heartache,
Sorrow and grief toward each shore.
Many are the lives being sustained
By long, refreshing drinks,
And strong is the life-force which
Carves its way through the mountains of time.
Although excesses of emotion rain down
From clouds of deceit and despair,
Causing the river to overflow and flood the surrounding world.
Still the waters of my life flow on. (11-2-2000/kk)