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561 · Jan 2011
Hand Haiku
When writing haiku
do you always count it out
on your fingers too?
yours mine ours
554 · Feb 2015
Ouch!
there's a band-aid on my finger
where you cut me yesterday
slicing rotten pieces
of my vegetables away

you didn't even notice
it's your sweet nearsighted way
so no drama was enacted
and i had no need to say--
The challenge: write a poem in less than 15 minutes!
All rights to this magnificent gem reserved by the author.
548 · Nov 2010
With /out You
I awoke this morning
without you
My first night alone
without you
Without you the bed
Without you my arms
With you
my heart

Tide of tenderness rising
pushes waves of love
up over the desolate
abandoned beach
of my without,
whispering a million
loving thoughts
into every listening shell--
the shore sparkles
with the wet kisses
of my love's waves.

As you stroll barefoot
in the sand,
There, on the other side
of this one blue sea--
Can you hear my whispers?
Can you ******* kiss?
Copyright 2010 by Michael S. Simpson. All rights reserved.
544 · Jan 2011
Gotta Believe
Every morning, when I wake up
and I see you sleeping there,
my heart fills up with grateful
for the tender love we share.

When I think of all we've been through,
how our love beats all the odds,
and I feel how much you love me,
I gotta believe in God, 'cause

Who else could have brought me an angel?
Was there anyone in all the world who knew
how to heal my aching heart of lonely?
Who else could have brought me to you?

In the evening, when we lie down
making love so slow and sweet
just caressing you forever
is the place I want to be

Then you fall asleep beside me
breathing gentle in my ear
before I drift off into sleep
I say a little prayer, 'cause

Who else could have brought me an angel?
was there anyone in all the world who knew
how to heal my aching heart of lonely?
Who else could have brought me to you?
Written for M., 1997
Copyright 2011 by Michael S. Simpson. All rights reserved.
543 · Jan 2011
Ask the Roses
Most things
    called love
       are not--
         roses
          have
           thorns
            for good
                      reason.
Copyright 2011, by Michael S. Simpson.  All rights reserved by the author.
537 · Jan 2011
Mixed
Where flowers
   bloom,
weeds also
   flourish.
517 · Sep 2021
Our Little Poems
my little poems
love yours--
and i see yours enjoy mine--
perhaps we could be friends,
and on a play date
walk to the park
behind them.
before we  know it,
we're skipping,
enchanted by their exuberance
we'll delight to see them
playing together:
swinging side by side,
chasing fairies,
laughing
uncontrollably--
our carefree,
happy children.
513 · Apr 2011
Where is Spring?
Where is Spring?
These barren, bony branches
pluck the sun
from my sky.

I mocked depression--
now
it mocks me:
endless gray skies
pour rain,
rain,
rain.

Go ahead, rain!
Tear the blossoms
from the trees,
bury their color
in the mud,
wash them
away,
away,
away.

I don't care anymore--
My eyes are turning gray.
My second poem since my mum died last month--
510 · Feb 2015
On Kenmore Way
My man,
play!
           Forest      
                          Wind      
                           ­                 Life
                                   Car      
                     Spray            
      Knife
gorgeous blues
(symphony from love)
drunk
like hot chocolate
from my fridge magnet poetry, 2014. All rights reserved by the author.
505 · Jan 2011
In Your Own Words - for ju
think away bad
know love
feel time
Words borrowed from ju's word list-- I'll put 'em back-- promise!
505 · Jan 2011
A Life of its Own
Love is never,
    in the end,
as it first appeared.
Inspired by ephemera's "Two Scenes depicting Love."
Copyright 2011, by Michael S. Simpson. All rights reserved.
491 · Aug 2018
The Writing of Poetry
When the most potent
words are found
within the marble
quarry of the heart,
are chiseled free
from the incoherent
mass, set thoughtfully
in the right places,
the poem becomes
a living being,
its song
echoing long and long
in the deeps of the soul
whence it came.
490 · Aug 2018
Courtly Love
Sweet my lady, I long to see
Inside the heart and mind of thee.
Were I to look there, what would I find?
Gracious lady, tell me your mind.

Do you fear I do not love thee,
Because my face you have not seen?
Or do you trust my love's unchang'd,
As it has ever been?

Do you care to know my heart,
Or have you tired of me?
My lady sweet, do tell, do tell,
My lady sweet, do tell me.

As lovers will, I feel bereft
In exile from thee, sweet!
My lady I confess to thee,
My fears I lay at thy feet.

Whether you love me yet or no,
I will not my love betray, though
Without you my own light grows dim,
I hardly see the way.
480 · Jan 2011
Under the Covers
On this rainy night--
my lover and I,
under the covers
-- staying not dry.
Inspired by ephemera's "little love poem #3"
Copyright 2011, by Michael S. Simpson.  All rights reserved.
No, I can't.
You're tearing
the gossamer thread
woven of love's dreams,
that knit our separate hearts
into one,
shining, bright and clear,
golden
glowing
with all the tenderness we gave
freely, without any hesitation,
without forgiveness, in our
lonely hearts' "YES!"
as we ran like kids
hand in hand
into summer.

I beg of you-- don't
please don't
tear these
slender
golden
threads
asunder!
Follow
them,
dare to
trust and
believe in them-
they will unite our hearts again.
Give yourself to love--
and Love will stay,
will give us
what we need
to become one
with each other
and with Love itself.

I love you too much
to just let you go,
so I couldn't
I couldn't let this night go by.
for A.M.J.
473 · Aug 2018
Blazing in the Wind
Love struck a spark
when first our eyes
into each others gazed--
once kindled there,
pure passion flared
into a fiery blaze.

Love fiercer burns
each time we meet.
The dead cry, "It is sin!"
these hearts alight,
twin torches bright,
blazing in the wind.
470 · Jan 2011
Ripe, Yet?
The fruits
     of living
take time
     to ripen.
468 · Sep 2018
Surreal
Baby it's 3:45
baby I'm barley alive
surviving on muesli
and oatmeal and such
"That's cereal drag,"
her laconic reply
465 · Jan 2011
In the Heart
Truth lives in the heart,
as a whale
lives in the sea.
462 · Nov 2010
She Has Touched Me
Will it surprise you
to know I've been with you
all these many days we've been apart?
Or have you felt my soul reaching out
to draw you close and hold you in my heart?

Time after time I have closed my eyes
to shut away the world and see your face.
Have you seen my eyes as they have sought for yours
to drink from them your light and loving grace?

Oh, how you water my soul with your presence!
Like a desert I burst into bloom!
When, like a rainbow, your smile shines upon me,
banished from my sky is all gloom.

Now joy reigns and tears are forgotten.
All loneliness melts into light.
Now I am sure that through you She has touched me--
the Mother of all that is bright.
Another love song I wrote some time ago.
Copyright 2010 by Michael S. Simpson. All rights reserved.
450 · Jul 2019
When the Fog Rolls In
When the night comes down
and darkness is all around
I can't see before my face,
guide me with your grace
when the night comes down
when the night comes down

When the fog rolls in
can't tell right from sin
can't see where I'm goin'
don't remember where I've been
oh, guide me with your grace
keep me in the Way
when the night comes down
and the fog rolls in.

We all have times
when we lose our way
lose our direction,
don't know what to pray.
when the night comes down,
and the fog rolls in,
when the fog rolls in

Oh Father, guide me
when the fog rolls in
when the fog rolls in

In the darkest night
I can't see a light
I hear the foghorn moan
and waves breakin' on stone
I know the channel's near
guide me while I steer
away from danger here

yeah the night came down
the fog rolled in
but Your grace blows clear.
Copyright 2019 Michael S. Simpson
All rights reserved by the author.
427 · Jan 2011
Even Love
Even love
      can't give you
yourself.
Inspired by ephemera's "Two scenes depicting Love"
Copyright 2011 by Michael S. Simpson
423 · Feb 2015
Gone
I sit in a chair
outside our front door
with a view
of the surrounding forest.
Flies buzz nearby,
birds chirp a little farther away; and
geese argue heatedly about something
at the neighbor's pond.
Someone is nailing something,
swinging a hammer hard.
I close my eyes,
taking it all in: 
flies, birds, geese, hammer, sunshine.

The rhythmic pounding goes first,
hammer slipping out
of my mental grasp,
then the geese fade away,
still arguing,
followed by the
flies,
birds,
sliding from my awareness
until
there's just
the silent sun
shining
on an empty chair.
Copyright 2015. All rights reserved by author.
410 · Feb 2015
Sunny Side Up
she texts me
from the kitchen:
inviting me to share
a breakfast of eggs.
whose?
i wonder,
idly speculating
is this a come-on?
i'm sure of it when
she follows up with:
i'm open to pregnant conversation
sunny side up
408 · Sep 2018
Separated
we may be, but
I feel our hearts
drumming
in rhythm
wherever I go
400 · Oct 2015
Roses or RayBans?
Everybody's heard about those rose-colored glasses
the ones that make the world look sweet.
If I had to choose between roses and RayBans,
the roses would win in a heartbeat.

Whatever you look for is what you will find:
cold and dark or sunny and bright.
I'll take the rose lenses every time,
to see my world full of light..
copyright 2015 by Michael S. Simpson
All rights reserved by the author.
393 · Jan 2011
Man and God
Man plans;

    God
  
         laughs
Old Jewish proverb
392 · Mar 2022
Imperfection
Imperfection is a state of mind.  
Since no one is perfect,
no one should mind.
387 · Jul 2014
Five Birds
I found your hand
sleeping
like five birds
in a tree
(heads tucked under wings).

I did not wish to startle them
so I stood near, singing very softly
an old love song.

Slowly they woke into
their own sunrise.
Together, singing, they
flew down
on iridescent wings,
bringing me
your touch of heaven
(and, in that old love song,
the sweet harmonies
of love's dawn).
For Ann Marie
con tutto amore
354 · Dec 2013
For you:
A heart that loves you and is true,
a hand to hold that doesn't cling,
someone to talk to all life through,
a friend to trust with everything.
For B.C.
348 · Sep 2018
Dream, Dream, Dream
We chose spend this lifetime
chasing dreams for two.
If they escape us when we wake
I still got to sleep with you.
333 · Feb 2022
The Sound of Silence
Ask an introvert
how he feels
when surrounded
by extroverts,
and that's
what you'll
hear.
332 · Feb 2015
Last Glass of Wine
I wanted to
come to your
door
and
urge you ,
"lie with me."

I wanted to
undo your blouse,
release your
*******,
feel your *******
brush my chest.

I wanted to
deeply
kiss
and tenderly
caress
all of
you,
holding you,
my beloved wife,
so very
close.
I want to
feel your pleasure.
I want to
be your lover
once more.
I desperately want
you to
love
me.

But
I didn't
knock on your
door.
I was
sure
you'd say
"No!"
and turn me
away
to lie
alone
again,
adrift
on the
empty
raft
of our big
wedding bed
as I do
every night,
longing for
the closeness
and love
you say
I
have destroyed.

Instead,
I finished the wine.
There was just
one last
glass.
I sipped it
while I reviewed
my good
old songs.
The wine worked,
I felt like
singing,
and I wondered:
what am I doing
here?

I have no
idea
what I have
done
or not done
to alienate you,
my most beloved
alien.

For me
you are the only
woman--
so
righteously
angelic,
yet
so
cruel
in your
truth speaking.

Is it time to mourn
That never again
will you hold me
inside your
soft
sanctuary,
never again
will we share
the breathless
convergence
of flesh and
spirit?

Though
I may not
deserve
your love's  
benediction,
it is what
I most
ardently
desire
now
and
for which
I will
long
forever.
For S., 2002.
Copyright 2010 by Michael S. Simpson.  All rights reserved by the author.
332 · Feb 2019
I Cry
I cry
Yes I do
I cry for me
I cry for you
for what we did
and didn't do
I cry.

I cry aloud
when I'm alone
I cry in silence
on the  phone
for all the love
we could have known
I cry

I cry

I cry.

Do you cry too?
I'd like to know
what moves your heart
makes tears flow in
places where it hurts to go
Do you cry too?
Copyright 2019. All rights reserved by the author.
329 · Mar 2019
Your tears (for Mariah)
Your tears
are a holographic ocean
containing all the sorrow
of the world. I will kiss them all
from your eyes.
Your tears
will be
my prayer.
All rights reserved by the author.
326 · Oct 2015
God! God! God!
God in the wind, the rain and snow,
God on high, and God below,
God with me, where'er I go,
God! God! God!

God in the cold, and God in the fire,
Burning away all base desire,
Setting all my soul afire,
God! God! God!
A chant inspired by a trip to a cave where St. Francis used to go to fast and pray until God spoke to him.
Copyright 2010 by Michael S. Simpson. All rights reserved by the author.
324 · Jun 2017
No End
When the journey's over,
when the race is run,
when the light is dying,
and all your days are done.

At the end of the highway,
when the final line is crossed,
at the last ray of twilight,
when the night says you have lost,

there's a brand new beginning,
there's a brilliant new dawn!
Your spirit will awaken!
Your soul will carry on!
323 · Feb 2015
On Kenmoor
comes the
time
when
mist
must
ask
with
delicate
tongue,
"please
whisper."
from my fridge magnet poetry, 2014
314 · Oct 2018
From Khalil Gibran
"Faith is an oasis in the heart
which can never be reached by
the caravans of thinking."
296 · Jul 2017
Cycles
Winter snow falls in the mountains,

and, melting, seeps down to the spring.

The spring, in a turbulent fountain,

with a sweet song of youth to sing,

runs down to the riotous river,

and the river flows on to the sea.

Then the water again,

in the snow and the rain,

goes back where it used to be.


I wonder if reincarnation

isn't much like the rain and the snow,

returning through all of eternity

to the places that it used to know.
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved by the author.
295 · Mar 2022
A Heart of Stone
A heart of stone
melted by
a river of tears
287 · Nov 2019
My One and Only Love
The very thought of you
makes my heart sing,
like an April breeze
on the wings of Spring,
and you appear in all your splendor,
my one and only love.

Shadows fall and spread their
mystic charms
in the hush of night
while you're in my arms.
I feel your lips so warm and tender,
my one and only love.

The touch of your hand is like heaven,
a heaven that I've never known.
The blush on your cheek
whenever I speak
tells me that
you are my own.

You fill my eager heart with such desire!
Every kiss you give
sets my soul on fire!
You give your self in sweet surrender,
my one and only  love.
A jazz ballad by Robert Mellin and Guy Wood, tweaked ever so slightly by me.
263 · Feb 2022
Look
Look for the sun
in the dark abyss,
God IS.
Remember this.
250 · Sep 2021
Marsha
My dear, you had me long ago,
sly wanton that you are,
your words awoke my lover's heart:
cut deep, yet left no scar.
for Marsha Singh, poet extraordinaire
232 · Mar 2022
Cathedral
You and I
together, we
enter a heavenly shrine--
Nature,
God's
cathedral
divine
232 · Jul 2019
I Am
I am the rock
I am the water
I am the eagle
I am the sky
I am the sun
rising over the ocean
I am your joy
and the tears
that you cry
I am your joy
and the tears
that you cry

I am the seasons
and the rivers flowing
I am the salmon
I am the bear
I am the questions
I am the knowing
I am the answer
I am the prayer
Copyright 2019 by Michael S. Simpson.
All rights reserved by the author.
231 · Nov 2019
The Way You Look
Someday, when I'm awfully low,
when the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you,
and the way you look tonight.

You're lovely, with your smile so warm
and your cheek so soft,
there is nothing for me but to love you,
and the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,
tearing my fears apart,
and that laugh that wrinkles your nose
touches my foolish heart.

You're lovely, never ever change,
keep that breathless charm!
Won't you please arrange it,
'cause I love you,
just the way you look tonight.
Lyrics to a classic jazz ballad by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields: "The Way You Look Tonight."
229 · Sep 2018
Love Letters
Faded rose petals
pressed between
yellowed pages,
catching my
bitter tears,
turn
crimson
once more.
214 · Jul 2019
Be My All
Oh my Lord, be my all,
be my all, be my all.

Be my lover, be my friend
be my beginning
Lord, be my end.

Be my Father, my Mother too.
Lord, be my Self
let me wake in You

Be my all, be my all,
be my all in all in all,
be my all,
be my all ,
Be my all!
Copyright 2019 by Michael S. Simpson
All rights reserved by the author
212 · Jul 2019
I Will Be Free
I will be free in my heart!
I will be free in my soul!
The light of Christ has made me whole!
A radiant bearer of Your light I'll be!
The joy of the Lord will flow through me!

Allelujah! Allelujah! Allelu, allelujah! (3 X)
A joyful chant of celebration. To be sung with utter conviction.
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