A World apart

The eastern sun
knows not the western sky,
a world apart,
I know not of your ways
...nor you of mine.
Yet, love binds
across the line;
mutes the stares
of disapproving eyes,
whispers...and anger.

Each forbidden brush of eyes
and passion's wine
upon our lips
dulls whispers of disdain.
Love heeds not the wall
that culture builds
upon the mind.
Two distant worlds
...yours and mine,
joined in cherry blossoms
shedding from their boughs.

So strange,
beneath a moon, casting
shadows of
pagodas to the sky.
Echoes of sad koto strings,
singing softly in our ears.
Why does love invade our hearts,
when western skies
will call me back?

These pearls...so rare,
of joy and love
now ours
...never meant to be.
For you and I,
we surely know,
on distant shores we'll weep.
Each day
...a hundred years.

No Time for Tears

So it was,
I stood at the gravesite,
where my love
was to meet her God
and the words were said,
the flowers placed,
and the sun...puzzled,
shone down a long line of cars
...and black mourning.

It was a fine day
of birds and song,
the spring colors
gathering their brightness,
and I thought,
this is how
she would have willed it;
for she was a flower of life,
her petals fallen
in peak of bloom.

Then hushed gathering
slowly falling away,
like tears
down the face of the earth.
Whispered words...
I could not hear;
for there in my eyes
...she appeared,
smiling her smile,
blowing a kiss... to our kids;
telling me softly,
no time for tears.

Afterglow

Love is so sweet
that ripens in its sum of years,
encapsulates the vine;
your lips as sweet as the first
delicious sip.
Your eyes excite, your smile
still warm;
time can only enhance the wine.
Were we but young in years
...it matters not,
for we are young in love,
we two,
who nourish embers,
grow mellow
in the vineyard's sun.

East is East

Here,
on the tatami mat,
as a sweet morning sun
flowers
through the paper doors,
unlocked, yet private;

on the tatami mat
with parted lips,
we kiss.
My arms tingle
with the feel
of your silken hair...raven,
the light capturing
its radiant sheen.

Then my lips,
upon the nape of your neck,
soft, smooth velvet;
scent of cherry blossoms,
teasing,
the first dew-drops
of morning.

Early shafts of sunlight,
bestows blessings
on our love.
Two worlds unite as one,
alone
...in one small room.

Embers on the Wind

The leaves of spring
take from the sun,
cool beneath the stars
at night
and meadows held in
winter's might,
are free to bloom
and breathe the light.

The lingering
softness of your lips,
sweet scent of you
upon my skin,
recaptured
in a memory's glimpse,
as fleeting as
the leaves of spring
that fly on autumn's
chilly wind.

Our love once born
in promised light,
has died like leaves
in autumn's sight,
and still...
I burn to hold you near,
each day a lingering year.

A Love Song

Palm trees
hug a languid shore,
waves caress white sand.
Rising up,
the mountain green
eyes its crown of white.
Blue lagoon of bluest skies,
calls in dreamy guise.
Melodic strings float on air;
Come home, come home
...she waits.
By the shore, the silvery sea,
she calls her love,
come home.

Yesterday

As autumn lights
upon his face,
each line a year
etched into place,
wizened hair
a shock of white;
wistful eyes stare
at a place,
of greening hills;
springtime scents.

Each furrowed line
crowds his face,
each shaded stare
a far off place,
of dusty roads, gentle hills,
nature's incense
burning clear.
Erin calls him
back in song,
to barefoot wanderings
in warm fields.

The flowers gather
to the sun,
as Erin sings
a song of love.
Her laughter bubbles
on the air,
a whispering wind delights.
And through the years
with wistful eyes,
he reaches out
with anxious arms.

And all things known,
he holds inside,
to see the moments
once again,
when journeys lived
have not begun;
as Erin's smile
ignites his heart,
he brims with life and love.

And now the eyes dull
as the mind,
tells him yesterday
has gone;
another year
wedged into place,
etched on his face
...another line.

Farewell at the Sidewalk Cafe

Just beyond
the sidewalk picket fence
...low and white,
city traffic agitates the air;
two coffees,
cream and caffeine beans;
we sit and talk.
The wide umbrella foils
an evening early sun.


Buses honk,
taxis dart...
like crazy gnats seeking hollows
of unwary ears.
We sit and sip, and talk
of yesterdays unfulfilled,
of promises inert
that lay like broken wings
upon the worn asphalt.


As silence falls upon our lips,
we filter memories,
dream tomorrows
and our separate ways.
On lonely days and intervals
we sit and talk
here at the street cafe.
I yearn to stay but want to leave
and what of she?
She drums her fingers,
looks another way.


Once lovers; strangers
at this small cafe.
Uncertainty enfolds:
to let the failing flame expire
or bear the pain
of seeing her
once more turn away.
She doesn't know,
just friends...we can never be.

Vision

In rising mists of
midnight,
I walk these fields
in silence,
hear the night sounds
murmur,
quiet in their way.


A wind blows from the meadow
through moonlight's shadowed
beams,
Up there on the hill,
she stands alone at night.
Every night I see her
framed in glowing white,
long hair ever golden,
wistful eyes of love.


I know
she hears me calling
but as I hasten near,
she leaves a vacant space.
A lovely image glowing
dressed in angel white,
she waits the lonely night.
Then as my eyes revealing,
beauty never known
and as my heart is thumping,
she disappears from sight.


I hasten through the daylight,
walk the midnight moon,
there she stands, oh sighing,
the loveliest of sights.
Is she the one eluding,
rising out of dreams?
For years I have pursued her,
but never have I held.

Two Loves

Many times
I have thought of you,
through years that dissolve
as quickly as morning mist
before sunlight.


When the house is asleep
and only night sounds are heard,
I see you in the moonlight
that fills my window.


Our first date,
when we were both fifteen,
our last...
when I was twenty
and went off to war.


Across a world of water
to an unknown land
of winter's gleeful choosing;
You went away from me there.


You told me
in your letter, our time had passed;
you had found another love.
...You were young...
as was I
and time, a cruel eternity.


I was shaken
to the deepest depth
of my being.
Life , as precious jewel,
dimmed into nothingness.


I no longer feared battle
but reckless abandon survived.
and
in the most unlikely of places,


where cherry blossoms bloom
in the quickness of early spring,
I found my true love.
She had been waiting,
as had I...without knowing.


Still,
in the silence of memories
that never dissolve,
I find you ...sometimes,


for you were my first love.

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