Of Love and Time
INDEX:
No Wider Wonder
There Was a Time
Fading Flower
Vivid Souvenirs Of Our Sunrise
Sweet Silence
Our Gentle Sea
Windswept Girl
Seizing the Scraps
Softly
I'll Never Forget
Oasis
Warm Fingered Hands
Necklace
In the Fir-Laced Study
Love Gentle As the Coming of Spring
No Wider Wonder
I know no wider wonder
Than this trembling delight
Ah, the way you treasure me!
Through all these years
Through so many tears
Our love has only deeper grown.
~ ~ ~
The way your eyes shine
The tender gaze you place on me
Gentle as the brush of a wing
Soft as the whisper breath of spring
Unwrapping buds in silent splendor.
~ ~ ~
The love in your eyes is as
Flickering sunlight reaching slender hands
Through golden poplars.
~ ~ ~
Your eyes move my spirit
Like wind dancing on the surface of water
Ah, the way you treasure me,
I know no wider wonder!
(C) 1999 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
There Was a Time
There was a time
When the wind sang to me
Of winter snows, dancing fir trees;
Of exotic spices and rolling foreign seas;
Of dreams beneath down comforters,
Safe in your arms all night long.
When we knew no sorrow
Could ever engulf us
With its wrong.
~ ~ ~
There was a time
When the wind whispered
Stories of the way breezes move
The surface of the water; of fairies and
Magic spells, of youth and hope; of ancient
Secrets; of lilting melodies, enchanting rhyme.
And eternity floated easily ahead of us,
Pure, and untarnished by time,
While we lay together,
Knowing.
~ ~ ~
There was a time
(C) 1998 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
Fading Flower
Oh! That you love this fading flower,
While cherishing our vanished hour.
~ ~ ~
My ebbing charm you still embrace -
You see the girl yet in my face.
~ ~ ~
And budding fresh and ever new,
The thrill to me of loving you!
(C) 1999 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
Vivid Souvenirs of Sunrise
What a wild ride you’ve given;
what a merry chase we’ve known,
through the souvenirs of sunrise
where we ventured all alone.
What a splendid form you showed me
when you sashayed round in grace;
long and lean with sweets between,
and caring soft across your face.
What a tea-party you showed me
during time's remembered lore;
when of Alice I knew nothing,
and you led me through the door.
With such loving arms you took me;
with a tender touch not known,
you and I softly ascended
to a rapture all our own.
What a time - I’ll not forget it,
when we sailed the thunder’s might,
through the magic, through the lightning,
of our youth’s enchanted night!
(C) 2000 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
Sweet Silence
Sweet silence;
perhaps the better choice;
smooth quiet lull in echoed hall,
of muted yearning voice.
~ ~ ~
Compassion;
the tender way of mine;
I sing to thee a melody -
of love, line after line.
~ ~ ~
Sweet insight;
that draws you near to me;
wisdom to know the time to grow -
our love was meant to be.
(C) 2000 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
Our Gentle Sea
In a dream I floated with you
in a journey all our own,
beneath coverlets of loving
where no thorn has ever grown.
~ ~ ~
‘Twas a boat of gentle rocking
on our nighttime’s calming sea;
and I was warm within your arms
as waves lapped tenderly.
~ ~ ~
No tomorrow lay before us,
and no yonder shadow cast;
as our world became our shelter,
and we were alone at last.
~ ~ ~
The winds were soft and quiet,
and the silver moon was bright
o'er that dream in which we floated
through a long and fragrant night.
(C) 2000 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
Windswept Girl
Windswept girl she’s a star-crossed lover
Fragile and fragrant and running for cover;
Tucking those sudden tears out of sight
She won’t bring you down on this pearled night.
~ ~ ~
Dreamer sweet, she’s light on her feet,
Dancing through dazes of loves complete;
Hush now don’t wake her until the dawn,
When again she’ll behold the lives that are gone.
~ ~ ~
She’s an offspring of mine like my poetry
And I’m tender toward that child who was me.
Cradle her gently, she’s frail and small,
And please, if she trips, would you break her fall?
(C) 1998 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
Seizing the Scraps
Seizing the scraps of life yet here,
We're gathering pieces of yesteryear.
Piecing the quilt of our history,
A square from you, a square from me.
~ ~ ~
Braiding the strands from all our times,
Creating our music and tender rhymes.
Weaving our memories with our todays,
Threading our journey through living's maze.
~ ~ ~
Building our future's foundation strong,
At last we are certain where we belong.
Too many lives we've known, now past;
The best one of all found us at last.
(C) 1997 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
Softly
Softly
Tender night tiptoes in;
Our work nearly done, our
Weariness great, I wait ...
~ ~ ~
Softly
Gentle bed waits for us,
A few tranquil words, oh
Dearly caressed, I rest.
~ ~ ~
Softly
Slumber drifts over us,
Peace shelters us here, our
Deep love to keep, we sleep.
(C) 1999 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
I’ll Never Forget
Without You, I Was:
A canyon without any echo,
a flower-bud withered and frail;
a planet without any sunglow;
an ice-storm without any hail.
A sailboat lacking an anchor,
life passing with meaningless time;
a mirror without a reflection;
a poem with never a rhyme.
A tear never able to fall,
a ring that could never be round;
a silent shrill whipporwill’s call,
a blizzard without any sound.
A living without any story,
a pain not proceeding on by;
a lover with no tender passion,
a still, windless pale winter sky.
An eagle without any feather,
a desert with only cold sand;
seasons without any weather,
an earth without any dry land.
A river without any motion;
good-byes lying silent and cold.
Living without any breathing;
a youth growing quietly old.
* * *
But with you the sun gently rises.
The good-byes have changed into hellos;
joy sprang in with all new surprises,
and loving is all my heart knows.
(C) 2000 Rosemary J. Gwaltney
Oasis
Leaving the shadow of sorrow's stresses,
I melted anew within your caresses.
~ ~ ~
When the sun plunged beyond the cliffs of pain,
I supped the sweetness of your kiss again.
~ ~ ~
The mystical moon rose of your desire,
And I dwelt anew in your warm sweet fire.
~ ~ ~
Thus 'til the dawn we held the world at bay;
And with love's passion staved heartache away.
(C) 2000 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
Warm Fingered Hands
The sharp rusty staccato of windblown raindrops
Hurled across the metal roof, sound like
Miniature horses galloping above us.
We write in our tiny mountain home beneath
Tall solemn pines that march up from the valley below
In majestic formation like stately guards.
~ ~ ~
Intensely concentrating, breathing together,
Caught up in our other flaming passion -
The one that age can only improve and refine;
The one that renders time gloriously meaningless.
With the softly rattling keys in steady rhythm,
Absorbed, we birth our unborn thoughts,
Watching as they develop on the screens before us.
~ ~ ~
In the midst of life’s distresses,
With watering mouths
We hold this old sweet solace,
Ever soft in warm fingered hands.
(C) 1999 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
Necklace
You laid your sorrows in my hands
and I guard them with tenderness;
like dewdrops trembling before the dawn,
as you guard mine.
~ ~ ~
You trusted your grieving to my heart,
and I protect it with gentleness;
like delicate breezes touching the water,
as you protect mine.
~ ~ ~
You dropped your tears upon my cheek,
and I kissed them from yours with love;
like snowflakes melting in the grass,
as you have mine.
~ ~ ~
With such precious confidence
through your pain, you have given
me pearls and rubies beyond compare; and
we have strung together on our strong line of love,
a necklace of devotion and care that will span
far more than our lifetime; yes,
all eternity as well.
~ ~ ~
Holding each
other through darkness
of night; your love is my light.
(C) 1999 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
In the Fir-Laced Study
Hours of silent time punctuated by clacking keys.
From both sides of the fir-laced upstairs study,
Interrupted only by the Christmas bird clock
Above my book-lined, cluttered, friendly desk.
~ ~ ~
He turns from his computer with a smile.
"There's your bird again, honey!"
I turn from mine, cross the room,
Wrap my arms around him in a hug.
"What have you been working on? Do I get to see yet?"
He scrolls up to where I left off last time, teasing,
"Oh, Rosamaree, are you sure you want to?"
His warm eyes shining.
~ ~ ~
Oh, my dearest thirty-six year love,
Our quiet intensity in writing together
Is one of the brightest joys of my life.
My husband, my lover, my partner, my friend,
How I love you!
(C) 1998 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
Love Gentle As the Coming Of Spring
You cradle me tenderly in our waterbed, while the
still-winter slanted sunlight pours through the lattice work on
the deck outside our upstairs castle tower room. A light wind moves
shadows from the firs against the house, before
the sun creeps round the edge
of the wall.
Our breathing braids together,
like our hair, both heads still blonde, though
with a sparkle here and there; and in this gentle dawning,
you reach for my hand, and we lie quietly side by side,
while a perfect sleepy peace enfolds us like
our light down comforter.
The tiptoeing in of spring, with its
fresh breezes and bright colors, finds our love
ever growing, ever deepening, like the rich greens
of aspens spreading overhead, and cherry blossoms fragrant
in a wind warm as your smile.
We loved so early, so
fierce and strong, it grew with us
like a hot blood in our veins. Yet I always
count the time of our love in celebration and awe,
that after thirty-seven years, and after all the fires we’ve walked
through, the sight of you still thrills me so. Each dawn,
when I open my eyes, I’m always a girl again,
just for that moment with your dear
face next to mine.
(C) 2000 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All rights reserved.
mountainrecluse@yahoo.com
© 1997 - 2002 Rosemary J. Gwaltney All
rights reserved.
