Elrow Swift

Elrow Swift Dec 2016

I have a story to tell you
Please listen, I'll be concise
You see, my name is Love,
Love Poem to be precise

I was born beneath a shaking pen
Moved by a racing heart
The child of a lovesick boy,
whose love moved him to art

I have smudges from erasers
My corners have dog ears
In the valleys of my wrinkles,
are the stains of quiet tears

I may not look like much at all
but what you do not see
is that locked inside my margins and lines
is a love that was never set free

He trapped it here, between my lines
writing with heart and pen
then he crumpled me up, tossed me aside
and never looked at me again

But don't feel bad, it's happened before,
I am not alone in this world
for many a poem lies alone and unread
on a paper both crumpled and curled

So now you've heard me tell my tale
I pray that you ponder upon it
why aching hearts pour out their love
just to join in the wastebasket sonnet

Elrow Swift Nov 2016

Cold, Dark Mistress mine

Oh cold, dark mistress mine
is our union so taboo?
the day is master to us all
but I yearn to be with you

in your arms I feel at peace
you hold my fears at bay
but sleep comes swiftly to my eyes
the tool of jealous day

I want the dark and not the light
the moon and not the sun
let them go blind on their fattened star
I prefer billions to one

Night, my dear, please do not cry
I lay awake for you
but a yawn now summons me toward day
and the things that I must do

though my will is 'bout to fail
I will return again
for sleep will find in me a foe
and this battle, I shall win.

#sleep #night #insomnia

Elrow Swift Oct 2016

Swept Away

Here I stand toes in sand
waiting on the shore
The sky is dim the clouds roll in
I know what is in store
There! I see, it comes for me
A wave ten stories tall
If I flee, it will catch me
But if I stay, I fall
Impending doom will be here soon
so what now do I do?
I'll not retreat nor stay my feet
I'll instead...try something new
Oh, threatening wave, oh promising grave
so powerful, fright'ning and large
although I'm scared and unprepared
I'll meet you, with a charge
and if this be death, my final breath
at least you must agree
you master of fears, purveyor of tears
You could not frighten me.

#fear #fight #courage #adversity

Elrow Swift Oct 2016

Hope and Defiance

****** me in the fire
Hold me 'neath the tide
leave me on a desert isle
with no one by my side

throw me off the highest cliff
bury me alive
beat me till the edge of death
and dare me to survive

lash at me with all you have
give me your best try
no matter what I will not break
and I refuse to die.

#courage #defiance

Elrow Swift Oct 2016

A Fool and His Courage

Bring me to the edge
the water bubbling and deep
let me see the fear and drink from its cup
show me the shadows, let me hear their whispers and feel the chill of their touch
let me bask in the darkness, absorb the night and bathe in the light of the falling stars
give me the clouds, the ones that block the moon, and show me the monsters that hide in their shade
I will indeed drink deep from fear as the chilling rain rolls in
pouring, falling, falling, failing
crashing in steady cacophony
Am I brave yet?
Is courage embracing fear as a brother or withstanding its onslaught

No, I am not brave.
I wanted darkness and I have it
It is not scary, it is lonely
and I am so
very scared
of being
alone.

#fear #freeverse #lonliness

Elrow Swift Oct 2016

Lovesick

I do not wish to fall in love
By accident or chance
I do not wish to slip and fall
Into affection and romance

I do not want to spring the trap
That clamps around the heart
I do not want a sweet surprise
As love awakens with a start

Because if I've fallen into love
A swooning, ignorant fool
My affection is but dust and sand
Fickle, vain, and cruel

So I refuse to fall in love
At its precipice I'll wait
And there I'll choose to fall or stand
And there I'll choose my fate

I do not wish to fall in love
So unaware and so asleep
No I will decide to give my heart
will not fall...but leap

Into love I'll jump headfirst
Committed alive or dead
My purpose clear, I'll face the fear
And choose the fight ahead

Love is not just something felt
Or found by luck or chance,
It is also a choice to make everyday
A taxing, beautiful dance

So here I pause outside love's door
Do I enter through the gate?
It aches to stay outside these walls
But my eager heart must wait

It is not time to give my love
For what reason, I do not know
But to give it now is not love at all
I must wait for it to grow

To confess a love not strong but weak
Fills me with smothering fear
For she deserves more than I have
Every laugh, thought, and tear

So I cannot give her all just yet
For there's not much here to give
But I know that soon I'll be prepared
To share this life I live

So I wait here pacing the edge of love
Till the hour shall arrive
When with life prepared and heart lain bared
I'll hold my breath, and dive.

#patience #waiting #lovesick

— The End —