Love & Romance Poetry Anthology
Publisher/Contributor: Deborah Simpson
© 2008 by Deborah Simpson as a Compilation
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PROLOGUE
Love is the intricately woven thread that binds two hearts as one. When the delicate thread of love is nurtured, the heart knows of no other comparable ecstasy. However, when that thread becomes severed, the heart knows of no other comparable misery. From bliss to misery, often times, we find ourselves at a loss for words to accurately describe the intensity.
Poetry gives love’s intensity a comrade. The wondrous and magnificent power of the poetic quill delivers voice to the speechless, calm to the restless, hope to the hopeless, and sight to the blind.
Poets from around the world have come together to bring to you the Love & Romance Poetry Anthology. Perfectly penned verse brings to life the undecipherable and brilliantly paints the pictures of our hearts.
Prepare to embark on a journey through love heretofore unimagined.
FEATURED POETS
Expert and novice poets alike collectively share their dedication and admiration for the art of poetry. All of these featured poets have joined virtual hands to present a collection of understanding, hope and inspiration. Each poet has unselfishly poured their hearts into each selection of meticulously woven verse. As you walk with these poets through the many channels of love may you find new voice, hope, insight and tranquility.
POET ~ PATRICIA SANDERS
Patricia Sanders has been studying metaphysics for 20 years and has been writing poetry since she was 12 years old. She has been in meditation groups such as Satsang and many others. She has learned many of the ways of a medicine woman and completed a course in Cross Cultural Perspectives in Feminine Psychology. She is a Reiki Master and has been doing Reiki since 1994.
Patricia has published a number of books of poetry.
She now lives in Oregon with her husband, three daughters and two dogs.
SEPTEMBER
Tonight
You come
Full of kisses
A smile painted
On your face
Laughing
Singing
Happy
Open-hearted
My heart sings
To the sea
The songbird’s majesty
Happiness
I love you
Lying here next to me
Outside
The sun had set
Inside
With you
The sun still
Danced
Across the sky
MY FIRE
Sometimes words
Sit silently
Awaiting an audience
Hidden behind curtains
I peek through
To see you
In the morning heat
Rising against
The silence
That gnaws at my bones
We pass one another
A longing fills my chest
I burn
You turn
Towards me
Embracing my fire
As I nestle
Inside yours
LIGHT APPEARS
Sometimes I see you there
And silence suspends the air
Talking quietly
About life
About us
I love feeling you near
Your simple humor
I look into your eyes
Study your face
Your hands
We go to bed
Unclothed
Bare souls
Kissing
Holding each other close
We make love
And the sweetness
Of you here
Next to me
As we drift off to sleep
Makes me smile
Sometimes when I see you there
Silence suspends the air
And a light appears
AS YOU STAND
Flickering in the wind
As you stand beside me
Full of strength
Desire for you
Fills me
All day long
I lie here
In your arms
As eternity passes by
Pure lightning
In your hands
That cover me
Claim me
Consume me
You are all that I know
Out beyond the ocean
To where the depths
Of my heart lie
Is you
With your strong eyes
Your brave
And flame filled ties
COURTING
We walk
Hand in hand
Oblivious to the shadow
Courting the synergy of
What has always been
There
A sure smile
A LOVER’S SYMPHONY
I spoke
To your heart
For it called me
With it’s brave intensity
And in passing months
I swam it’s
Deep ocean
You spoke
To my heart
For it called you
It’s own
Rising
Of desire
And love’s breath
POET ~ MICHAEL DEGENHARDT
Michael Degenhardt’s poetry is inspired by beautiful art and his love for his wife. Michael’s special message for his wife: I affirm my love for my wife, as she is my world, my light and my reason. I place so much value on her love and her strength, for she is the strength that keeps me going.
PLEASE KNOW
Please never doubt the way I feel
The love I have, that’s held for you
You may not feel it, or even hear
But, when not said, it’s still so true
I cannot help but bare the love
That lives within, growing each day
Though my actions may seldom speak
Those small three words of love convey
I wish to say that I love you
Oh, though the distance allows not face
The friendly smile or time then spent
I feel it required to then say
Those gentle words, to not lament
As days, to weeks, to months and years
Within the void, divide us two
Oh, do remember please, how I feel
That supports the words, said now, as true
I wish to say that I love you
REQUITED LOVE
Unto your heart I bequeath my being
A thousand deaths, I’d die for you
As your dear face is all I’m seeing
So, in my heart, I hold you true
The sun may die, no more eternal
The sky may one day bleed with rain
My heart, my love, it shows external
To keep you then, from facing pain
Alas, my worth is based on presence
To hold you close, such strength provides
To sense your being, absorb the essence
As I look deep within your eyes
Oh, see my heart that rages true
It dies alone, if not for you
SHE SLEEPS
She lies
Where dreams become her reality
She sleeps
While encountering nightly pleasures
She brings
Beauty to those who set eyes upon her
She remains
The inspiration of many thoughts
She
Is the being of life
The symbol of tomorrow and hope
The adornment of the mind
As she welcomes us all
To our place of meeting
She
Is beauty unsurpassed
The masterpiece of the artist
Is paint upon the canvas
Is the image of our hearts
GIVING HEARTS
So it goes, my heart has spoken
It gave to you its life to keep
All wrapped in lace, a lover’s token
So not to make two lovers weep
As love shall be our daily prize
We see its face with our own eyes
My hand’s outstretched, to now caress
Each day is sad darkness from your mind
To free you, love, from your duress
And reveal the love that’s there to find
As hopes and dreams become fulfilled
Each day so blooms with lovers will
Upon the banks where souls retreat
So sought, within our lovers gaze
It’s there alone, we two shall meet
To bask in love lights brightest rays
At last we found our soul mates, true
Your heart’s now mine as mine is for you
To know that then we share this well
A love complete, no stronger be
Eternal, my love, our hearts compel
Us, to share all and forever see
Our love; forever meant to share
No greater love beyond compare
TWO, IN LOVE
The candle glowed and cast shadows upon the bare wall
As the two met after dinner and their associated chores
The farm work made them tired, but not too tired to enjoy
As together, they embraced and traced their faces, in love
As the two met after dinner and their associated chores
They fell, collapsing into their lover’s arms, for pleasure
Each day separates them in body, leaving hearts as one
Ready to feel the presence of each other at the end of day
The farm work made them tired, but not too tired to enjoy
As they both looked forward to their quiet time of love
Love through looks, through touch, through just being
Through the music of their hearts as they play a symphony
As together, they embraced and traced their faces, in love
Knowing each others visage, there, only for each other
Accepting every flaw, for with it came perfection, softness
The undying pleasure knowing that together they made a life
POET ~ KATHERINE STELLA
Katherine Stella is from a German / Italian background and raised in a family of ten siblings – five boys, five girls. She is second to youngest, being 49 years old with a daughter of 10 years. She has been working for the City of St. Paul as an office assistant three for the last 24 years and writing poetry for ten years now. She began to do some songwriting, currently having two songs written in Nashville that are to be played at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame on June 28, 2008.
Katherine has over 600 poems on different sites: www.poetry.com, Poets Workshop and Womans Today.
LET’S DANCE
I dare to dream of midnight lovers
under a moon’s montage theme
Just two silhouettes dancing gliding
like a king and queen
On a paradise island
Filled with enchanted dreams
Hip to hip cheek to cheek
under a candle lit beam
Sherry filled glasses
to the rim’s seam
Intertwined and saluting
to the night’s scheme
Do I dare to interfere
with this magical burst of gleam
Or continue laying dormant
and flow down this current’s stream
Wake me not!
for I wish to continue this beautiful dream
Of me and my lover
dancing gliding to a lover's theme
POET ~ R.M. HAMILTON
I look at life through many different eyes. I constantly think and philosophize about many things that I experience and see. Life has many twists and turns that are unexpected. Sometimes you need a helping hand to get through the dark times. May it be spiritual, religious, or from deep within your own soul to go on with a positive outlook on life.
MY ANGEL
My angelic savior, my angelic guardian
You were there for me when needed
When times were tough, when times were rough
You were there when my spirit needed soaring
To lift me up, to carry me away
You were there to keep my hopes alive
You made my soul shine, you made my heart feel
You protected me from harm, protected me from despair
You gave me your wings so I could fly
You gave me your wings to touch the sky
You showed me love when my heart was a rock
You showed me love when my candle was out
My angelic savior, my angelic guardian
I owe you my love
I owe you my life
POET ~ MICHAEL CRITZER
Michael Critzer is pursuing his Master’s degree in English. He is the editor for the fiction magazine NexGen Pulp, and his poetry has appeared in Worlds Within Worlds Beyond and Bohemian Alien. His work is inspired by the people he has known or watched, his surroundings at the moment of inspiration, and his overactive imagination. Of course, none of it would be possible without his supportive wife, cat, and Yorkie.
THE MOMENT
I would rather wait
until I can kiss you
like rain, pouring steadily
into treetops, becomes
one with the air inside to linger
in a warm, rising mist.
For I’ve come to know you
as the moment on Spring’s
eve that cannot be forced.
Should you become lonely,
as you hide beneath hedges
from the full August sun,
speak softly my name
and I will bring the rain.
NOT JUST LOVE
Not just love,
but to be in love
and to relate along
the common bond,
is to spend eternity
in the moment upon
taking the siege perilous.
It is not enough
to be valiant, and purity
is known to skip a generation.
Consider the chalice
held in your hand
and what it was to quest,
how the queen's eyes
came to roam and how
a roaming king may suffer.
But if you choose
to drink, drink deeply
and forget these things,
for there is more faith in love
than in any transfigured cup,
and there is more than one soul
bound in this salvation.
THE CHASE
If I were
to touch you,
the mystery would not die.
It would slide down
your body
at the urge of my inquisition,
and I would chase it
elsewhere.
But you do wear it well,
and I like the look of
it cornered,
with a daring uncertainty
and fearful thoughts of
courage
mirrored in our eyes.
MOMENTS LOST
The evening stretched before us
like a lingering house cat,
its moments taut with pleasure
in a concentrated mystery.
Would it spring upon a word unspoken
and pry it from reluctant lips?
Or collapse into an untried circle,
oblivious to itself and others?
I wished for the first
but expected the second,
and I wondered at your
unruffled pose.
The night seeped in like Novocain,
and I dreamed of resolution
but settled into a bittersweet comfort,
as one who has lingered, too long,
on the edge of a promise
he dare not accept.
POET ~ FRAN ORENSTEIN
These four poems are part of a series in Reflections that delves into the psyche of women at various stages of their lives. They all seek love and validation of their womanhood on different levels as lover, friend, mother, companion, warrior, independent being, and lonely, needy soul. Only the mask and costume they wear is visible to the world, until their other dimensions rise to the surface, to be validated or discarded by humanity.