Lady you are so very dear to me --
Like a pure flower soaking in the rain
Or the fiercely crashing waves on the sea
Or the whiten top mountains snow has lain . . .
The brilliant iridescence of a gem,
The rising moon's cool opalescent light,
Spring time azaleas and the scent of them,
The smell of honeysuckles in the night.
And the delightful sounds are also dear --
Like screaming winds that sing among the trees
Or many crickets calling from the weir
Or people humming happy melodies.
           But dearer far than all surmise
           Are sudden tear-drops in your eyes

I can remember the first time I laid
My eyes upon the love of my life, Lucia.
Her skin was so fair, like flaxen;
Like a shade of summer sunlight.
Her eyes were like blue sapphires.
Her cheekbones were high
And very delicately drawn.

Her chin pointed her mouth
Accented with two deep dimples.
Hers was a delicate, fragile beauty.
She had the elegance of the Queen;
And the purity of the Holy Madonna.

At first I never looked upon her with lust.
I just gazed in the depths of her bottomless
Blue eyes and discovered chivalric impulses
I never knew I had. Protective instincts
I thought had long since died in my childhood.
I esteemed Lucia with such fervor that
Is bestowed on the blessed ****** Mary.

But be warned . . .
For this might happen to you too.
One day your fine the next day
You are sighing at the sound of Lucia's name;
And writing verses of bad poetry in her honor!

When my young lover swears she tells the truth.
O course I believe her; although I know she lies.
I know she does thinks me such a fool.
Just ignorant of the worlds false logic.
She thinks so vainly of me so unwise.
Although she knows I am past my prime.
Simply, I do not care about her false tongue.
Because on both sides the truth is suppressed.
But never will she say she lies a plenty.
And of course, I will never say I am old.
You see, loves best habit is it's trust.
And love loves not to tell years told.
So I lie to my love and she to me.
And our faults by lies, flatter be.

Early man lived in fear of natural events.
Myth and magic dominated his spirit.
Than gradually he began to understand;
And learned how to enjoy and control nature.
This was called the age of enlightenment.

Today these principles that allow us to live
In peace with the beasts of the forests;
The tides of the oceans, thunder and lightening.
Are inadequate to still our new fears, about
Religion, genetics and the new super-strains
Of viruses engendered by new wonder drugs.

We live again in a world of myth and magic.
This time man-made, and we are powerless.
A second enlightenment is now sorely needed.
So man can live in peace with his own creations.

Only through a new evolution of thought;
Can man conquer and enlighten his new fears.
Because our knowledge will always be limited.
While our ignorance will always be unlimited.

It is no wonder if I sing.
For love most strongly rules my heart.
For love I obey in all things.
Body and heart and mind and thought,
Love draws me with great force.
I look upon love as everything.

Life without love -- what is it worth?
Like a man whose heart is never fed;
Without love's sweet food is indeed dead.
God may your hatred never move.
So fierce against me that I may
Survive a month a single day.
And have no heart to sing for love.

It is indeed my belief;
When I see my love near;
I tremble visibly with fear.
Like a quivering leaf in the wind.
My weakness before love is such,
A child would have more sense than I.
Please my love have mercy on me.

Sweet is the wound your love does give.
Your love clobbers my heart.
I die a hundred times.
And revived a hundred times in joy!

"But, God I don't want comfort,
I want Poetry, I want danger,
I want lust, I want sin."

"In fact," said God, " you want
the right to be unhappy."

"All right, then, I'm claiming
the right to be unhappy."
I replied definitely.

" Also the right to grow old
and ugly and impotent; the
right to be lazy; the right to
look forward to a happier
tomorrow; the right to live
with unspeakable sins of
every kind."

"I claim them all." I said.

Then God shrugged his shoulders
and smiled and said.
"Your welcome."