I am the helpless, wingéd fly whose thirst
For nectar draws me close to your steel cell
Where once imprisoned, death drapes me; the first
I’m not to fall before your binding spell.
For many men in vain your kiss pursued
But sadly, your false kiss bore life’s mishap
With slumberous poison in your chasms brewed
You marred their hearts for you’re the Venus trap,
The beast whose luring nectars lovers draw,
Tormentor whose first weapon is your sweets,
Whose second is the power of your jaw,
And all the poison that your heart secretes!
    Of your dark deeds, to others, I’ll impart
    So they won’t be allured to your black heart!

Your kiss is sweet enough to quench my thirst,
My hunger, and the flames of my esteems,
But when time comes when your sweet lips are pursed
Such love bears forth a vault of wilted dreams.
Coy mistress, be such bashful fancy crime,
Love shall imprison you in shackles, drear
But why ‘pend on your lips and their sweet clime
When in you dwells an aspect, more so fair?
Must I pursue instead love by the core,
And not by sweetness of the outer shell?
Aye, hungering solely by your lips no more
I must myself and all my thirst compel!
    Why must I lead to kiss the lips of you
    Thus make what love I’ve taken to be true?

My heart now aches with sleepy dreariness:
    A dreamy wake from whose dull, soothing spell
I can’t awake, nor can I sleep to bless
    My dreams with profound ecstasy as well
    For all recurring visions, sweet and deep,
         Have turnéd to a black and empty void,
               And all the stepping stones of pale night
         Are clouded by the mists of murky sleep,
     Bedewed with memories that I enjoyed:
The visions with which I can’t reunite.  

My mind now pines for all those moments when
    Endured had love and bliss before slow time
Had bound such moments once and then again
    Shall bind more dreams and memories, sublime
    Oh, vista of my dreams, unseen, unheard
        Your brow is laid with shawls of quietness
            Your pinions are held tight with the chain
        Of all my visions; fly then, flame-plumed bird
    And sing such sacred song you can’t express
Once I now free you from my wilting brain

My tears are of ripe joy and bliss’s ruth
    And though my days are thus outright expelled
I shall keep in my core, the flames of youth
    Which once I had in early years, beheld
    Sweet memories, ye shaking leaves, adieu
        I bid you well in winter and in spring
            A-flickering before fate’s icy breath
        And though, no longer, shall I see all you
    I’m glad you flew upon nostalgia’s wing
And warméd my cold heart before my death

Swift bee, the gilded messenger of bliss,
    Begirt with golden stars of Heaven’s span,
What draws you to the clover’s gentle kiss?
    Sweet nectars, that the strongest drinker can
    Carouse with dreams and dizzy waves of sleep,
        Or mocks the freshest breath of summer’s clime?
            Swift bee, a flame-plumed star of black and gold,
    Why do you with your mouth, completely reap
            The liquors that each golden bud does hold,
        And lulls with somnolence the might of time?

Oh, bee, you spread the tufted pollen clouds
     Like nebulae of opal stars crossways
The delicate, soft digitalis crowds,
    Which passionately garner sunbeam rays
    Within their coral shells. I can’t express
        How much your toil’s worth to coming spring,
             And how so passioned glide your wings around
    The purple, gentle harebell’s loosened dress,
             And make, through pretty hums, spring’s hopeful sound
        Oft too profaned by your most fearsome sting!

Oh, pretty hummer! Hearty worker! Bee!
    I see you roaming round the garden’s bend,
Where sweet, white daisies wreathe a canopy,
    And make you but a hearty, cheerful friend.
    Swift bee, the aching, swollen heart of mine
        Desires comfort where pain knows no ruth
            The buds hold, like rich garners golden grain,
    Ambrosia of the gods, dream’s honeyed wine
            So bring and let dear bee, such moisture stain
        My lips and warm my heart with spring’s bright youth!

Sweet love, if death’s black net my mind shall cover
And drape with doubly twining nets my heart,
Be not the one to weep and cry, dear lover
For never shall I from your essence, part.
When you shall to your chambered bed, retire,
I shall bear my embalming pinions
Above your crest, so that when you shall tire,
You’ll safely roam in dream’s dominions.
When you shall wake before the morning’s charms,
And bear upon your brain, renewéd thought,
I shall enwrap you with my tender arms,
Although you’ll feel them as the air and not
    As mortal flesh, but some unearthly ether,
    For, love, in life and death we’ll stay together.

The vast sapphire nebulae of space,
    All rising o’er in zeniths of sweet dreams,
    Feed all the leas and all the murm’rous streams
With folds on cloudy folds of moonbeam rays.
Whene’er I look within the lake’s clear face,
    I see each high aurora, which then gleams,
    Caroused with Heaven’s soft and dewy beams,
Which flicker in a thick and splendid haze.
I see the moon, upon the whole world gaze
And all the stars which skies with their souls trace,
Glide, trembling in some waters’ ebbing grace
     With some unearthly music, so it seems.
Oh, as I sit before the pale light
    Of stars, I sigh and dream of sacred bliss,
    And tuck myself in Heaven’s chrysalis,
I feel as if such place is more than night…

Give me my pen and feed my heart with muse,
And I shall write until the night transforms
Into the morning, when the earth imbues
And quakes with spirits of the sleeping worms.
I’ll glean as gleans a reaper golden grain
Sweet dreams, which with some mystic magic swell
And set my spirit and my burdened brain
Free from the fleshy temples of their cell.
My quill would spill sweet words as if it’s dew
Or some ambrosial nectar from a fount
In Heaven’s reign. My tongue shall throb anew
With gilded glory. Evermore I’ll mount
    Into the cloudless climes of deep midníght
    Just give me paper and the will to write!

Oh, faery finch, whose golden form does climb
    Athwart the starry bays of poesies, sweet,
I hear your voice, and drown in slumber’s clime,
    As I sit, pond’ring in my woolen seat.
My quill spills no sweet word or sweeter song,
    For my heart such cloyed passions cannot game,
And doubly more lies speechless my sore tongue,
    And triply even more, my soul’s the same.

As hours pass, upon these pages, bare
    I stare as if no passion stirs to fly.
To mount into Eutrepe’s mystic lair
    I couldn’t, ‘till your tender lullaby
Had touched my ear, and from my breast awoke
    Some passioned fire, hearing such sweet voice.
Of Heaven’s bells and Heaven’s harps. Out spoke
    Your lilting charms which, magically employs

All of the Muse’s finest strengths and spells:
    Eutrepe’s mystic hymn, Erato’s grace
And Calliope’s trance which softly swells
    In finest verse, and in such verse does trace
Vast time. Oh, finch, were it not for your song
    Nor for you visiting me, worn with age
No words would spill from out my stricken tongue
    And writ wouldn’t be to you, my own homáge.

Down through the Alps, immortal, standing high
Whose feathers are the clouds of passing days
And whose sweet bosoms touch the milky sky
And whose faint breaths birth thick and gentle haze;
Upon the hills and valleys, laced with white
And brushed by bonnets of the passing clouds
There is beneath the mounts, a lovely sight:
Which please all mortal eyes: soft daisy crowds.
Of all unearthly, flowery June treasure
Of all the decors and bouquets of spring
Perchance, the fairest, by all equal measure
Yon daisies, in the moist glades, lingering
    And there where such soft blossoms dance and play
    Are you and I upon a summer day

If Fall shall rob fair summer of her boon,
    And steal the gloried rays of her gold sun,
And dreamy essence of her calming moon,
    Whose beams across the Heaven’s bowers run,

And all her sweets, her candied charms and spells,
    And all the finest beauty of her store,
Then days shall come, in which Cronus compels
    Fall to make grander all that summer bore:

To make the sunshine doubly gold and bud
    Much sweeter, golden blossoms, and then birth
Much fairer fruits, rich with sweet, temp’rate blood
    And feed with triply fresher dew the earth,

And pave the roads with golden folds of wheat
    And piled gourd, and hang the trees with leaves,
And spread with posy flame the glades where meet
    The murm’ring brooks, and where the sunshine weaves

Its silk of light across the morning skies,
    And all the flowered bowers with sweet breath.
Aye, even if the summer clime soon dies
    The Fall shall wreathe a beauty of its death.

When clouds upon the summer breeze all rest
And easeful, take upon their faery flight
Into the paling crimson of the west
Where noonday dreams wilt in the breath of night,
I look into the east, and try to bear
No more a single thought of gloom or tear
For tangled comes my heart in wreathes of drear
For seeing just the day lie on its bier.
Up at the twinkling summer stars I gaze
And far as any falcon, swift, may spy
Lie constellations whose postures can trace
A story of some wild ecstasy;
A tale of unworldly days of yore
When wine flowed free and through the earth did seep
And Heracles stood tall and Phobetor
Was purely myth to scare the young to sleep.
    And as I stare upon these stars, my eyes
    Close then and open to new morning skies.

I fashioned my love’s frown of dull command
    And sneer of some embellished, soundless clay.
    From morning to the night, from night to day
I dwelt nearby my love, and couldn’t stand
To peel my eyes from off her cheek’s faint brand,
    Nor off her lips, embroidered with the ray
    Of gold and ruby, bright as stars of May
Yet cold as winter wrapping autumn land.
    Oh, Venus, my poor heart and stricken soul
        Fell not for women of pure human touch
     For I have dipped myself in folly’s bowl
         But deem it folly I should not, for much
    I’ve loved, but Venus, ever in my dole
         I’ll live if stays to be of icy stone, this statue’s clutch

When summer pierces earth and dying root,
And winds the golden-honeyed flowers sweep,
And liquor rays bathe every bud and shoot,
Newly awakened from the depths of sleep,
When pollen springs forth in white, seasoned clouds,
Miasmic dreams, like visions, pure and sweet,
When gentle rainy mist the land enshrouds,
And tiptoes cross the meads on silent feet,
When sweet, ambrosial bloom shall sprout and bud,
And throw their dreamy breaths to weave a sigh
And cast their milky sap, and sport sweet blood,
And touch the Heavens that bedight the sky,
    Tis time, when fresh and pure is all of love
    But still I worry, for seasons all move

She took many untrodden paths
And dwelt near unknown ways
Few took her in their arms of love
Few took her in their praise
But o, to me she was life’s light
The warmth of summer days

Few ever knew her, her sole friends
Were larks that came to sing
To others hoary she may seem
To me, she’s everything
And I took her up in my care
I took her ‘neath my wing

We flew together, her and I
I took to places, she
Where we livéd together one
In love and harmony
But one gray day she passed away
I dwelt in misery

And now I place a rose upon
Her grave near withered grass
Though very few of people knew
How great she was a lass
And even though she’s lost in time
And though o’er her time does surpass
I’ll keep her in my heart’s sweet clime
For all the years that aged their prime
And all the years to pass…

I see all Paris draped in molten gold
    Each window but an ember, young and bright
A dazzling, amber flame, brazen and bold
   Than e’en cannot be swallowed by the night

Coarse are the stars, like gems that loom above
    The clouds that sew the web of the blue sky
And in your eyes, I see the flame of love
    The everlasting flame that shan’t e’er die

A light, soft snow, like gentle feathers soar
    And land upon each dome, each roof, each street
The night is cold, the stars that glisten o’er
    Within the oceans of your soft eyes, meet

And I’m entranced by your sweet, tender face
    Your smile, kind and warm, and ne’er enough
Of words could say, how perfect is this place-
    Paris-the city of wealth-and of love

We are the restless clouds that sift through night
    That speed and veil the graceful midnight moon
That pass across the stars, small jewels bright
    We are two clouds dressed in soft, snow-white plume

But even as we pass, we seem a pair
    O, most unfit and frightful, so I’d say
But e’en such thoughts won’t ever ***** love’s flare
    But e’en such thought won’t e’er veer love away

We are the restless clouds that break the mere
    Of sky, a perfect, untouched pane of blue
That pass the forests, that in our flight tear
    The lands, supine, the meadows cloaked in dew

We pass with the cool winds of purest dream
    We are two clouds that soar most high above
Each valley and each shadow-swallowed stream
    We are two clouds, bound with the force of love

A bed of slowly dying roses, wan
    With paucity of prickles, bright and young
Lay dry, gorging on tears that fall upon
    The earth, but suddenly a maiden sung

And with her gentle voice that rose above
    The clouds, white stags most swift and soft and lithe
The roses, dead, arose with strengthened love
    Like Spring’s first blush, most fair and warm and blithe

And then the fair-voiced maiden fled to night
    Away across the moon and the gold sun
And now the roses stand tall with red pride
    The fair-voiced maiden knows her deed she’s done

And whenever blossoms are dying black
    Frail and faint under death’s tattered wing
The maiden of love, o, she will come back
    And with the voice of love, once more she’ll sing…

When summer left its legacy
Arrived autumn with its warm flare
From cerulean seas came she
A lilac in her sea-breezed hair
And burst in utter joy my heart
Knowing fore’er we can’t depart
Though hard to practice love’s own art
Love with her still yearned I to share

When blossomed fruits again, spring drew
I walked near dark poppies with she
And sang sweetly the doves that flew
In lovely hymns of euphony
And hope against hope with the breeze
Our love will start with steady ease
And luckily it will ne’er cease:
I loving her, her loving me

Though in mere moments, quick, met we
A feel I have our love will stay
And sat we in serenity
By ponds where misty dusk there lay
And looked I at her face upon
As gentle as the setting sun
And hopefully be us as one
Though be we young or withered gray

And suddenly drew I most close
And gently placed my arm round she
And as I did, our free hearts rose
She turned around to look at me
And as set the gold sun below
Suddenly then and now I know
Our love appears to be true, so
Forever I will stay with she
The one who came from the Cerulean Sea
Solely for me and only me

That gorgeous lass, she looks at me
Her eyes twinkling like stars above
Like diamonds with fine clarity
Fallen I by clutches of love
Although lurk I in sorrow still
Knowing be mine never she will

My heart is dark with my strong woe
My soul is crippled down to none
Knowing she’s ne’er mine leaves me so
In a piece, no longer a one
For though she seems like a seraph
At me Cupid can only laugh

As he says, “the best joke I’ve seen
She can ne’er be yours so leave off
Quit from continuing to glean
Your ‘precious gems’ of petty love.”
And though those words were most severe
I’ll still chase love now that it’s here

For a joke, true love never is
And tis the wave and tis my call
For she fills my heart’s gap with bliss
The deep gap that once scarred my soul
I’ll love the one I always loved
No matter what, ‘gainst grim I’ll go
And hope against all hope I got
She, that girl will just love me so

And love me till the end of light…

The once lively river dried, now it’s bare
Its sweet, flowing song gone forevermore
Life’s pleasant melody just isn’t there
And won’t be there to drown within fate’s shore

For I shunned hope, I shot down all of love
And cringed whenever all my problems came
Too scared to face all of these problems, tough
Regret I, for it shan’t e’er be the same

The river dried, the rush I cannot hear
Of azure streams as they snaked through life’s land
And o, ignored I every step from ere’
And each problem and every helpful hand

I stayed inside, abhorred the streaming glow
Never answered my door for hope or strife
And repeated such foolish folly though
Each day on after, each day of my life

Eventually I faced comeuppance, mine
For I deserve this pain and woe and strife
For I shunned all of bitter hap through time
For I had shunned all of the haps of life

The train comes close, huffing a puff of gray
My heart a numb and shattered piece of ice
My back’s turned to her as she boards away
The last of her packages, her supplies
The clouds above a silver, hoary black
But when the train’s last cry the air did blade
I turned to look at it behind my back
But sadly far off like mist it did fade
But then an urge took over my wan heart
And I began to run after that train
Just like a famished wolf, just like a dart
But only then I realized I’m insane
For trying this fast train to catch, tis tough
A deed, just like trying to catch torn love

My love, my love, I’d love to tell
    Was just as fair as one may be
Her lovely eyes like waves that swell
    Athwart the pearl-laden sea

Her lips were sweet and just as lush
    As red roses, fresh, one to kiss
Her voice in song is like the rush
    Of rivers those who sing with bliss

Her hair as gold as sunshine rays
    Her skin as white as driven snow
Her touch like first of summer days
    When high the golden sun does glow

She is an elf, an elfin queen
    Upon her hair, the bloom of spring
And in her eyes, her soul, a sheen
    A beauty, fresh and ripening

I see a hill of jade rise o’er the sky
Engulfed in silver, silk-like, morning haze
Like ghosts of dewy moonbeams roaming by
Kissed by the bright and golden morning rays
The sun, a spider lit with crimson flame
Climbs slowly up the yarn of the clouds, white
Setting alight each cranny and each plain
That once stood shadowy in the deep night
The air is fresh, all nature sings a hymn
A clear harmony of impinging day
The burst of sunshine fondles the world’s rim
Dispelling the deep black of night away
I sip my morning coffee as I glare
Upon the morn’s bright, topaz, springing flar

The waves dance lithe against the sullen shore
Brushing my feet with deep aquamarine
The air is sweet, the gulls among clouds soar
To take their place mid this tropical scene
The breeze is cool, the tide is calm, amid
The gold, gold sand hides lustrous ruby *****
The sun is high, between the palms it hid
Where soared and flapped snow-white the clouds like flags
    As we sit on the beach, a place of bliss
    I kneel closer and place a gentle kiss

The waves, like white horses gallop across
The soft, swishing sands, a castle of gold
Rises above the sand to many awes
Of those people who this palace behold
A lovely grandeur built by you and me
With love, a rope that twines our hearts as one
With threads of truth, of trust, of harmony
With the outlandish thread that old call fun
     And we would sip cocktails, refreshing
    As eventide came forth on her bright wing

And then we would walk cross the folding white
Of the pure, stainless, foam-washed, serene coast
Bespattered with the paints of evening, bright
Before the night shall come just like a ghost
And then when the moonbeams kiss the sea, deep
We’d go back to our hotel room where we
When all things are now quick and sound asleep
Will look up at stars from the balcony
    And we’d kiss there beneath the silver moon
    A sweet, last ending to our honeymoon

Thy beauty can rival Venus’s own
Thou art as beauteous as morning rays
Thy blue eyes deep and bright as stars, alone
Caught in the fathomless ocean of space
Thy skin as soft and white as ivory
Thy lip as tender as the moonbeams, bright
Which kiss the mellow, gently flowing sea
A cobalt shade in the star-laden night
As bright art thou as the bright, blazing dawn
And as mellow and fair as Spring blossom
Thine hair, streams of molten gold fall upon
Like gold cascades, thy soft, gentle *****
    There’s no beauty as fair as thou now art
    Gorgeous in mind, in soul, in look, at heart

A silver crown of jewels, bright, does lift
Amid the stars, like dew gleaming in morn
The somnolent breeze silently does drift
Caressing flowers that the fields adorn
All is asleep, kissing the mellow sea
The white moonbeams, that like lithe serpents glide
Cross the blue, I sit with you on the lea
Looking up at the stars that spatter night
The gentle moon keeps rising, smiling kind
A father watching the world before dawn
The hours perfect to leave woes behind
And to relax with love betwixt us, lone
    The trees stand tall, behind them the balloon
    Of silver blossoming, tis the calm moon

She stands by me, she stands by all of us
Shielding with bright the flame of purest truth
Like Thetis gainst the banes, she’s beauteous
Allowing me to grow within my youth
A roaming free through her prairies untamed
Hued with vibrant roses as her stripes red
With lakes most deep and mountains, high most famed
And stars that watch over us when dawn’s dead
America, the guard of all the rest
Brother to the young, mother to her son
An eagle soaring o’er the sky’s blue breast
Daring to claim the fiery, hot sun
Aglimmer with a brazen, nascent zest
    And bring it back and lay it in hard pride
    America the beauteous and bright

Across the mountains folding ‘gainst the wold
Across the lakes reflecting the deep sky
Across the cities rimmed at night in gold
Is the place where harmony shan’t e’er die
America, the place where sorrows flee
The land of the brave, those who charge to fight
Who fight for what makes America, free
Who fight for what makes America, bright
Who fight against the scourge of dawning hate
We are the folks who lead the world before
Tomorrow, we make America great
America, tis to freedom, the door
America, tis to pure hope, the gate
    America, to the future, the tide
    America, the beauteous and bright

In times of need, in times of woe and drear
We welcomed all hapless people who fell
Cringing within their dark, wholesome despair
By the black feet of dark the king of hell
This land is land that always share must we
This land is land with laws and judges, just
This land the land of opportunity
This land the land forged together with trust
America, the home of everyone
Who dare to achieve ‘yond the mortal eye
Warden of all, rebuilder of the gone
The eagle who dares to the bright stars, fly
Beyond where rims all space the light of sun
    And venture deep into galaxies, wide
    America, the beauteous and bright

A fire, they said, blazing red
    Had eaten whole a house
And there, there was a husband, dead
    Who cried over his spouse
“Twas on a cold, dead winter’s night,”
    He sang, o plaintively:
“A red, tall fire, had blazed bright
    Eating twas all to see

I heard my wife’s most pleading cry
    Drowned out by outer noise
She screamed, ‘neath metal she did lie
    “Go save, just save our boys!”
Her frightened eyes ablaze with fear
    She tried to writhe out free
But she was trapped, the fires neared
    In her captivity

And red sparks flew, she screamed, “John, John!
    Help me, help me, o please”
Through the flames, quick I did run
    From where sprang her shrill pleas
And as I dodged through searing flame
    A beast tearing apart
Something in a cold twist of pain
    Gripped all my frightened heart

Her scream as her the flames did eat
    Raw, black and savaged flesh
“O, help me John!” my tears did meet
    The flames,
“O, where are you, where are you Jane
    O, I managed to yell
But all that answered was the pain
    These crimson tides of hell

And then all fell silent except
    The crackling flame’s fury
And that shrill voice inside my head
    “Go save the boys,” her plea
I searched around the debris bare
    Aflame with savage blaze
And to my dark, my cold despair


And all I heard again, again
    Her plead, her cry, her voice
You’re their father, you’re that man
    “Go save, go save our boys!”
But then somewhere, I heard the cries
    Of the twins, tis too late
I ran, I ran, the flames did rise
    And nothing did abate

And I ran into my sons’ room
    And there I found to dread
Befallen on them blackest doom
    For they were burned, were dead
I flooded up in sad tears, white
    And with grief, fall did I
For all to this fire at night
    My memories did die

And now I stand, I sing forlorn
    O’er my family, dead
In plaintive elegies, I mourn
    I kiss each of their head
And though that fire changed my life
    Live I shall continue
In death with my twins and my wife
    In a life, anew…

Man:

The rose is flung, it’s set to die
The pale clouds begin to cry
As she walks away, faint and cold
My dark romance’s to unfold

And I look at the dark rose, dead
My soul congests with hate and dread
And I’m beset with darkness, great
Unable to flee love’s dark fate

Woman:

And all I see is ire, grim
As I walk, look away from him
I start to rue the days we had
My life’s begun, bitter and sad

I thought all would work out all right
And we would kiss o’er fine a night
But I was wrong, against my heart
I forced us to fore’er depart

Together:

But though in darkness, stride will we
Without the spark of love’s content
Our love shall live through agony
The second our lone roads we wend

And though we now are lone souls, stray
Not e’en death shall tear us away
For though we are sundered apart
We shall keep each other at heart

I hear the hot water’s rush, loud
    As sweet as summer on her wing
I beam most bright, I beam most proud
    And jump into the sizzling

Deep pool of bubbling foam, most white
    Gurgling beneath the faucet’s wrath
And bubbles soar, most clear and bright
    There is nothing better than bath

Love is nothing but sleep and drink and meat
To quench that strong craving deep in the pit
Love is nothing more but mere candies sweet
Inside, that bitter taste that make us spit
Love is nothing but cold yet warm a spark
To set alit thousands of flambeaus, ****
That once stood tall, frozen in the cold dark
Once lit, it shall melt to vicissitude
And to wend both either way is despair
One more woe-fraught than all the other ways
One cold, one hot, too hot to even bear
Colder than winter, hotter than dog days
     And if love is just mere food for the mind
     I’d eat something else, of another kind

I see amid the dancing grass
    A shining, mellow, little rose
Such grandeur, such beauty she has
    A maiden thus, most grandiose

Her pose elegant yet frail
    Her hair a crimson net of sheen
Catching the stars falling pale
    Shining like clots of dew, pristine

Like maiden Spring, she is most fair
    Like summer, bright, yet shy and gray  
As winter, white, her crimson hair
    Are like the leaves by Autumn’s sway

And such marvels are all too few
    Of such marvel, no mortal knows
But I found it, I pluck, to you
     I give, a sign of love, this rose

I knew her long, most fair a maid
With smiles warm and bright
And hair of brass and eyes of jade
Which sparkled in the light

Of dewy morns and starry skies
Up o’er in mountain clime
And all that met within her eyes
Melted deep in love’s time

Her laugh was soft, her soul of mirth
And all the winds caressed
Her hair as trod she light on earth
Her heart with love’s unrest

Beat quickly on, forever on
And her eyes which gleamed green
Shined in the stars of waxing dawn
With lovely, crystal sheen

And I kept her within my heart
Forevermore and more
For she was art’s masterful art
She was my love, my core

The toadstool stood, a cloud of vice
    Blown far by evil’s sway
Above ahead, the azure skies
    Were taken o’er by gray

Cloud loomed o’er, each a savage brute
    Blown off by winds, insane
The ugly toadstool calmly stood
    And welcomed silver rain

Which danced with grace, silently fell
    On little, soundless toes
The toadstool, once a hag from hell
    Became a maiden rose

With words as soft as falling rain
Upon a cloudy night
She said she loves me, once again
And that all is all right

Her voice like silk, most soft and free
With drum beats of her heart
But light that once fell upon me
Turns dark, joy that once wert

Withers to faint a flower dead
And words once soft as rain
Turn dark to bullets of gray lead
Turn dark since when he came

Now they pierce both my scarred, black ears
And my heart turns to ice
And same the coldest, frozen tears
That stream from out my eyes

I feel forlorn, I feel depressed
I walk, I walk alone
And once that beat from heart and breast
Now only beats my own

But maybe after gone is he
I could rejoice again
For you would love me just  for me
And not another man

I meant myself to be most true
With strong my heart o’er desire
But welding as one me and you
Is like welding ice and fire

My heart was once bright with love’s zest
And perchance I believe it so
That our strong love, it was the best
Before it diminished in woe

I meant myself to be most strong
My anger o’er love to control
But all the rights and each my wrong
Has welded in bitter recall

I know what I’ve done was a sin
Abandoning your heart but then
I realized all was great as been
So—will you love me once again?

The moon above a lambent sphere
    The air a fresh, cold twist
Which blows off as it does appear
    The wraith-like, icy mist

The lamps two guardians who bear
    Entrance across the street
The stars above, each one a flare
    Which blossoms bright and sweet

The rain drips, the rain goes patter
    Against each roof and stone
The light like colored snakes scatter
    A figure walks alone

Breathing deep in and breathing out
    The quivering, slow light
Dances like free spirits about
     On a silent, rainy night

So, how did the war go?
I was captured and whipped
I collapsed down low,
Tears from my eyes dripped
They were tears of pain,
they were tears of woe

I remember:
That evil one was one large ****.
He was a helper to the evil king.
He was as ugly as a deformed pug
and he towered almost everything.
He used his weapons. He abused his might
but soon a general came.
They greeted each other. They started to fight.
Both weapons a sword, they entered the game.
Both frightened, and prayed to the very Lord.
They sweated and beamed, it shan’t be the same.
The big baboon gleamed. He sharpened his aim
as swords clanked like a rattling chain.

The soldiers died in strife and pain.

Back at the duel,
swiveled thoughts of fear.
The good general slashed the brute’s very ear.
They slashed one another.
Blood spilled out.

The dying people screamed with a ****** shout.
Launching arrows using bows,
each one struck with a ****** stab.
Stung and torn by the vengeful foes.
The thunder shrieked with gravity.
Many died in depravity.
The corpses dripped crimson gore,
red as the sun on red sand
*
But back at the duel, the king was abed.
The brute was gone. He was pale dead
By the king’s bed, the general gave a grin
and performed his final sin.
And now they shout, the soldiers shout:
Death to the king! Death to the King!
The Tyrant is gone forever!
Yet this war, this dreadful war
will leave us to ponder as well.

Shall I compare thee to all the seasons?
To the flare of autumn, to kiss of spring
I will give thee the three great, sole reasons
Why shan’t I compare thee to anything
Thine heart is too warm to winter’s compare
Thy skin is pale unlike summer’s skin, bright
Thine hair is black unlike the autumn flare
Thine imperial air much for spring’s light
    Thy peace and grace too light for winter’s storm
    Though thou art faint and dark, thou art most warm

Thou art too cool for summer’s blazing clime
Too hot for cold winter’s dun atmosphere
Thine locks, most fair never wither in time
Like bright autumn when winter does appear
Thy voice whene’er you speak to me is soft
Unlike most sharp the winds by winter’s sway
Unlike the hum of heat o’er skies aloft
Within melting clime of each summer day
    Thy bright and fair beauty, bright glimmering
    Ne’er wilts away like do the tides of spring

Thou art too heavy in mind and in wit
To be compared to the soft breeze in spring
And what is good in bright autumn when it
Lies beneath winter’s cold breath, withering
And of what good is there to see in gray
Of snows and ice that dance like sprites about
And of what good is there to see or say
Of all seasons who come and pass in, out
    Thou art all in all for truest respect
    In thine own way, in truest sense, perfect

Young athlete who just joined the game
Keep your hopes high while running low
Towards success must be your aim
For you to wend, for you to go

E’en if you lose, e’en if you drop
Trodden by feet of rivalry
Get right back up and never stop
And win this race with chivalry

Ne’er seclude yourself, ne’er be coy
Don’t take in vain each accolade
Don’t be too scared, don’t over joy
And don’t let worthy honor fade

Never go blind with dark distress
Nor deaf with roars of losing so
Young athlete, don’t apply duress
But keep dreams high while running low

And even if you go too deep
Down the path you should not have set
Your worthy honor always keep
With bravery, ne’er with regret

Keep running on, keep running still
At the far end, light you will see
Keep running with force, if you will
You will soon grasp bright victory

And don’t let such grand rewards go
But don’t keep them so you may boast
Keep your dreams high while running low
And keep on trying if you lost

Your love is held within the word
    Too sacred to possess
And with treasures none can afford
    Tumbles each your gold tress

And both your eyes are meadows, bright
    Besprinkled with morn’s dew
There are three words, love to ignite
    Those words—are—“I love you.”

Dark, idle tears, they run like streams
    Down through your volleyed cheek
Each drop holds many minute dreams
    That for each self does speak

One holds the thoughts of many days
    Before we’re now in part
A kiss that set candles ablaze
    Within my once cold heart

Another holds the last of last
    The many hugs we’d share
And remnants of the merry past
    O’erwhelmed by dark despair

The third one holds what seems to be
    A winter night, most cold
Blazed live with the kiss you gave me
     Which turned to warmest gold

My frozen heart, my frozen face
    Which passed along in tears
That shone with memory of days
    That strewn our sullen years

And the fourth holds the waning dust
    The remnants of the rose
That held the powers of the lust
    For love that kept us close

The last now holds the very end
    That makes this very time
The day when different paths, we’ll wend
    When your love isn’t mine

And all in all, each your tear, gray
    That falls most lithe and free
Says much more than plain words may say
    For tears hold memory

There, high aloft the flaming sky
    Ablaze with the sun's intense heat
A boy, calmly, gaily did fly
    The world a globe beneath his feet
The sky an eye of molten blue
    The fields green blooming in gold
Of wheat and grains, the ploughman drew
    Whilst calm ocean waves did unfold

And crashed against the mighty shore
    Studded with rocks, and moist and cool
Where sat upon the golden floor
    The fisherman near the dull pool
Trying throughout the weary day
    Catch any fish, a meal to serve
His cursed stomach which growled fray
    And twined in locks each of his nerve

And on that pool, a fearsome ship
    With azure flags, a dreary mast
Most quietly, quickly did skip
    The tremulous ocean waves, past
Stealing the food the fisherman
    Yearned to catch but never did he
And Icarus flew higher than
    His father had told him to be

Out of his thrill, his bliss, his joy
    He tried to claim the sun, the skies
Only his tries made him the boy
    To fall into his dark demise
And as he rose, he rose most high
    He lost his wings, like bright the oars
Once pedaling throughout the sky
    Melted away, he lost his course

And suddenly his feathers flew
    Like pollen in the midst of spring
And down into the profound blue
    He went on fast and tumbling
His cries for pleas were never heard
    Ne'er spoken from his withered throat
And down just like an injured bird
    He tumbled and drowned near the boat

What marvelous a sight as seen
    A boy tumbling from out the sky
Ne'er the ploughman plowing the green
    Did see him, he was left to die
Tumbling further beneath the brine
    As Daedalus flew high around
“O, gods, where is the son of mine,
    There is no sign, there is no sound

Of his warm breath, his lively beat
    That chimed away in gaiety
Where did he go, did his end meet
    O, what have you have done to me!”
And so he flew around, away
    Fisher saw nix, the boat passed by
And life continued day by day
    As Icarus was left to die

With sharp pain and pure agony
    My soul, my heart did writhe
Now it’s deep void, most shadowy
    Though once it was most blithe

Before the cold, cold winds of death
    Blew down from up the straight
And long my last and troubled breath
    I cursed my darkest fate

I cursed the love that bonded we
   With silk of life and bliss
But all a sudden agony
   Became that forlorn kiss

I know they’re here, I feel their core
I see them dancing on the shore
They prance and haunt by dark the moon
They stalk their prey and **** them soon

They breach to dreams, all very deep
Whilst all the maggots soundly sleep
And run away, and hide in fear
When bright the dawn comes way too near

And when the dark night crawls once more
They come from the infernal door
Whisper and float and gnash their teeth
Whilst the slumbering dare not breathe

And they with teeth and jowls, strong
They bite with death whilst stalk nightlong
And whisk away their harmless prey
Far from the very lights of day

I feel the beatings of your heart
    Strive towards me with steel-bound love,
And though as now we are apart
   I can’t love you more than enough.

You are to me my bonnie lass,
    And all my darkest woes expressed
Can ne’er outnumber all in past
    Our joint-found years now put to rest.

I see tears from your eyes like brine
    Fall down your cold and withered cheek.
No words roll off the tongue of mine
    If only hearts and souls could speak.

I would say what could find my heart
    In fairest prose or poetry.
What pity now that we’re in part,
    For you meant the whole world to me.

We strode on one, both together
Beneath clouds soaring white
Me and my fair Meriwether
Till waned the morn to night
And then we would look up at the sky
And count the stars, all bright
Up in the canvas, painted high
The canvas of the night

And sweet the breeze would touch her hair
As they would like waves whip
And I would whisper in her ear
And I would kiss her lip
And we would count each evening star
And look at bright the ship
Of maiden moon sailing afar
Once I’d kiss soft her lip

And then we’d rest beneath the bough
Of old a hickory
And rest upon the hill’s green brow
We’ll rest together we
And frolic mid the blossoms, soft
And white as ivory
And run like clouds that glide aloft
In rest, together we

And then we’d leave to our home, warm
Once we strode mid heather
And o’er our heads, came gray a storm
A storm of chill weather
And blew over the peridot land
We walked home, together
Stride by stride and hand in hand
In love, in heart I
And my sweet Meriwether…

Love, merry are you as a midsummer flower
    And blithe as a lark upon the camphor’s tower
Singing free by every hour
    Which passes in dream, on and through

Most graceful are you as a lithe falcon, flying
    Or a gentle hawk by the spinning wind, crying
Or wooing tone, slowly dying
    In pain’s midst for the song are you

And not austere as the cruel mistress of ice
    And most warm and most crisp as the midsummer skies
Free as the wind by morn that flies
    To carry scent of lilac and dew

As gorgeous are you as a bright dream of sweet love
    And as gracious as the Eye of G-d, high above
Ne’er in my life, I can’t hurt enough
    To have me loved as I love you

In mettle, in pure gallantry
They storm by foot to war
Muskets set, blades sharp and strong
To fight in blood and gore

The tyrant entices them with gold
Chance anew at life
But those poor souls, they never knew
They’re in for woe and strife

With pride inlaid within their hearts
They bid their wives goodbye.
In agony, in shadow black
They’ll soon fall and they’ll die

And ask themselves on verge of death
What was it worth it for?
To march away and give their lives
Away to death at war

Those four souls bright, they cantered forth
They came, they shook the land
They took their guns, and fired north
And seized death’s toll in hand
They wielded blades, they sparred away
With foes on silent shore
And it was but one gruesome day
That left them there, those four

To look upon with guises, grave
Their swords, with blood, hued red
“Why must we be but so deprave
To leave our foes in darkness dead
They’re just the same as just are we
With children that miss they
And every night, in misery
They yearn to live a day

Why must we be the ones of sin
Why must we shed in gore
Why must we come, immoral, win
We’re not to fight e’ermore
We don’t care if you sentence us
We’re not going to ****
Killing is moral’s bitter loss
For G-d and human will'