Joy and Pain III

DAY
As the day's embers glow down to dark, I hear a somber song (bittersweet melody).
Notes that resonate to engender more shadowy images.
( For I wander near to forgotten, meandering trails within the forest of my mind. )
I stroll along imaginary paths now neglected.
They lead to my secret garden of fatigued, sullen spirits.

NIGHT
There lies one safe place employed to hide my broken heart.
( I see unmistakable images of a face that is hers smiling back at mine. )
The song is mixed with laughter and the longing for the caress of a supple hand laid against my cheek.
( As she gazes onto the wrinkled changes wrought by the wisdom that my age does reap. )

AGE
It creeps like a clinging vine, that slowly but insidiously robs all youth of the fire for life.

YOUTH
The forgotten flower that eludes, blooming somewhere at a time both future and past.

KISS
( Oh, how love once tasted upon my lips when I did speak the word! )
Ah, and such sweetness as it rolled off my tongue to the ear of the one whom I adored.
Every breeze decants sweet fragrances like tiny, fluid bits of magic.

ROMANCE
There was a time when the moon was my only friend.
It watched over me as I stood outside my beloved's window.
( In my mind's eye. )
I held her hand through the reflective pane
and listened to her breath.

LIVING
Thus, I awoke this morning to know that my life is intertwined with hers.
( What a miraculous thought I think. )
I tallied the steps leading to my one love -- up to her door.
Each time I trod the distance,
(it seemed longer... by one step or more).

LOVE
We had no need to speak.
( Just being together and in love was more than we could ever wish for. )
Home alone, it felt as if the pale orb was wryly smiling over my shoulder.
As I passed back into the depths of my verdant wood, fond memories there to seek.

SENSATION
I recall the sensation of such love.
I felt every pore, every cell.
Loved my alive with the sheer joy of being.

BODY
Beneath my fingers she wore the tapestry of the softest, supple skin.
(Responding - quivering to the slightest touch given).

SOUL
She lay breathless and in awe of sensations that were so immense to both our lives.
Every thought, every word, every beat of our hearts
kept time and threatened to overwhelm us.
Along the way I found the place where it all began;
that first kiss (which I still feel).

MEMORIES
It's as real now as it was when I was so much younger.
( ...and yes, it still means as much. )

FRIENDS
Between now and then, faces and hands and hearts have come and gone;
each adding to my life in some measure that does belong.
( A diamond jewel lies hidden and coveted, kept for one occasion so rare. )

FAMILY
Alerted, and blinking back to where mine are, I find myself alone again for I was,
totally devoid of the very love that would sustain me.

SOLITUDE
So, with a heavy sigh I walk silently away from those gentlest ones again,
( They who have shared their being with me in a loving way. )

HEREAFTER
Ah, in my life run dry,
It is only the memory of the lives who have passed through this heart that still give warmth.

HOPE
Will a loving partner ever come to be with me?
Home to stay?