You Are Stronger Than You Know

Toril & Tully Collaboration "Beety Babies" 24 x 36

You are stronger than you know

The rain may drench you to the core,

the winter wind may whisper

that you are not worthy,

the snow and ice may envelope your heart

You are stronger than you know

Beneath your battered form,

your roots grow deep

Reaching for nourishment,

Sustaining you in the drought,

Anchoring you in the flood

so that when the sun shines

you may lean into it and grow

You are stronger than you know.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Artistic Interpretations With Margaret, Art With Toril

Us

After we make love

I will wear your scent all day

Better than perfume

The essence of our passion

I breathe us in and I smile

Wish You Were Here

 source

 I carry you like my heart

I drink in your laughter

before my morning coffee

I wear your smile

as a cloak on rainy days

You are my own sun

No suitcase is big enough

to hold my love for you,

but as you were packing,

I slipped some in between 

your socks and shirts

to lighten your load.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Words Count with MZ, Vacation

Timbre

source

You know me by heart

No need for sheets

You read me with your fingertips

The stroke of your hands

coaxes me to life

We know what novices don’t~

Well-worn instruments

have the richest timbre.

Love

Eternal Love Locks, Pont de l’Archevêché,  photo by Susan

Forgiveness is a part of

Love

Pushing through after the mistakes-

A branch breaks

In time, corrects the wrong

And still grows strong

You and I will always belong

Together, like autumn and spring

Whatever the fates may bring

love: a branch breaks and still grows strong. 

submitted for Poetic Bloomings, In Form Poet, Ovillejo
and Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, First and Last Lines, What is Love?

and Poets United, Verse First, Committed

Tapestry

Like a tapestry

we knit ourselves together

hand over hand

word over word

Even the odd strands that hang

loosely, fraying

Tucked adeptly into the weft

to form texture, pattern

Time is a patient weaver

its cloth strong

beautiful.

submitted for The Mag, Mag152

Autumn Embrace

© Teresa Perin

Watching the October sunsets

Waltzing under autumn sky

You and I

Green leaves rust, turn to dust

Let the summer die

Summer's new, searing yellow

Autumn's rich, mellow.

Disregarding rain and puddles

We stay warm despite the cold

Let's grow old

Storms will blow, come and go

As our story's told

We'll keep dancing, never rend

As we dip and bend.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Sunday Mini Challenge, Stanza Form

The Mag, Mag 141

dVerse Poets Pub, Open Link Night 68

Theme Thursday, Stormy

Dramaturgy

We draw the curtain on today
The scripts and props are put away
Tomorrow's lines remain uncertain
On today we draw the curtain

We move like players scene to scene
Do we remember where we've been?
Always something more to prove
Scene to scene, like players we move

The page is done; the lines are said
Make up washed and costume shed
We crave the solitude of one
The lines are said; the page is done

But you can see inside my shell
No one knows me half as well
From you I do not ache to flee
Inside my shell just you can see

With you I need not wear a mask
I set aside the actor's task
When truth can be hard to construe
I need not wear a mask with you.

submitted for Poetic Bloomings, In-Form Poet, Swap Quatrain
and Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Open Link Monday

Blue Moon In August

gretasday.com

 

The August heat will not wane for the night

The black crow sky embraces a blue moon

and so we too embrace beneath the stars

How many wishes made upon these stars?

How many secrets shared within the night?

How often were we watched by jealous moon?

I know you'll always be there like the moon

We lend each other brightness like the stars

The heat of you awakens me at night

Love rare as nights of blue moons, falling stars.

submitted for dVerse Poets Pub, Form For All, On Tritinas

gretasday.com

Maybe a Proselyte

© Mama Zen Photography

Maybe I'm just moonstruck

but the color of your eyes could inspire a religion

and I could write a hymn

to every laugh line when you smile

Maybe it's just the moonlight

that has softened our faces

and given us a glow

but when I'm with you I feel like I'm still a kid

Maybe it makes dogs howl like wolves

Maybe it unites lovers

Maybe it incites lunacy

Maybe it's just a moon

but when I feel my heart race like this

I am a proselyte.

submitted for Sunday Challenge, featuring Mama Zen, at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Fire/Light

source

Now I know

the brightest light at night

isn't a star

It's the light that dances in your eyes

that sparks the flame within me

Kindling kisses

We burn through the night

throwing ourselves on the fire

to fuel more

and more

until the last glowing ember has

extinguished itself

with itself

In the morning light

we drink our coffee

In the sugar bowl

are ashes.

submitted for Thursday Think Tank, #89 Light, at Poets United

Cactus Flower

Cactus Flower (Chile) by Leon Calquin

Prickly as a cactus

but you bloom so bright

Get a thorn through my heart

if I hold you too tight

Your blood runs hot

your words do too

It can be sorta scary

gettin' close to you

You're strong; you don't wilt

with a little heat

Your head runs with ideas

You think on your feet

Girl, your wit's needle sharp

and no one is spared

Whoever loves you

had best be prepared

Babe, I wouldn't change a freckle

You have got such power

and you make me smile so bright

You're a perfect cactus flower.

You Love the Rain

source

Anyone can love a sunny day

but you

love the rain

While I grumble

at the grey

the morning mist

makes you smile

You come alive

a neglected houseplant

that's finally been watered

This morning

you ran outside to play

a puppy in the puddles

When you came back inside

you smelled of fresh mowed grass

and had cherry blossom petals

clinging to your dark hair

like tiny wedding veils

I lifted each one

and kissed beneath it

I love you because

you love rain clouds

I looked up

and saw them

heavy

and pregnant with portent

You looked up

and said

That one looks like

a lazy manatee

floating across the sky.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Kenia's Wednesday Challenge

Signs

© Shanyn Silinski

When I first saw you

little wings 

started beating inside my heart

When we walked side by side

holding your hand

was as easy 

as breathing

And when the sign said

No Through Road

we took off our shoes

and ran in the mud.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Sunday Challenge Shanyn Silinski

Love Song

When I met you, boy
You were so young and sweet
Didn't give a damn
'bout the life I planned out neat
Said drop the pilot
I'll fly your plane
Took me so high
thought I'd never touch ground again.

Love or lack of oxygen
Maybe they're the same
Followed your course
and I took your name
We were flyin' high
then the nosedive came
looked for you to hold my hand
but you were jumpin' out the plane.

Baby, it could have been better
but it could have been worse
We got the chance
to write another verse
The landing hit you hard
Now it's plain to see
You want love and affection, boy
no one's better than me.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Music With Marian, Love and Affection

with inspiration and a couple of lines stolen from Joan Armatrading's "Drop the Pilot"
"It Could Have Been Better"
and "Love and Affection"

Christmas Light

Christmas Lights by frostkisses

The tree fell down

and the lights shorted out

The in-laws are bickering

and the mice are stirring in the basement 

but we made love in the mess

and laughed

and picked pine needles off each other's bodies

Comfort and joy.

submitted for Poetry Pantry #80 at Poets United

Bloom

image source

I still can't believe you chose me

I am a frenzy of wildflowers

yet you treat me like an heirloom rose

You nurture my mad incongruities

coaxing the buds to bloom

in all their gaudy colors

and wearing them proudly

against your heart

as if they were a white boutonniere

on a groom's lapel

submitted for Poetic Bloomings, #29 Love