Love Poems

. The Song of Everlasting Sorrow Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi (772-846) wrote this poem about Tang Emperor ("Son of Heaven") Xuanzong (685-762) and his famous concubine and former Taoist nun Yang Guifei, who is regarded as one of the Four Great Beauties of Chinese history. It takes place around...

. Under the Umbrella inspired by “Le Parapluie” (“The Umbrella”) by Georges Brassens (1921-1981) Rain fell in waves throughout the street; A woman walked with no umbrella. I offered mine; in voice real sweet, She answered, “Thank you, sir. I’m Stella.” She dried her young, angelic face Under my umbrella...

. Unopened Letters Unopened letters strewn across the floor Addressed to me with your name on the back. Left where they fell inside my slotted door. A postal service-aided sneak attack. I step on them with smug indifference, Rejecting your repentance with distain. A callous disregard my best defense From...

. If I Have Gone To Sleep If I depart in early sleep__And cease to be with you,My thoughts I'd leave for you to read,To hold your hands in times of need,__to soothe your grieving too.I've written words you have not read__That speak of you, my love.In them, I do...

. Another Coffee Shop, Another Crush Another coffee shop, another crush, a moment frozen just before my turn, a chance to grin and let her make me blush, a true inscription on a Grecian Urn... The crowded room abuzz, the slamming doors, the step by step; these morning-people low like...

. The Meat Purveyor’s Son Aesthetically impaired, she was the heir to daddy’s fortune. She was plumpish, short and much too close together were the eyes. She hankered after marriage with a man to birth at least a daughter and a son. Alas! She wasn’t what you’d call an English...

. Ovid in Tomis Relegated, scorned, I languish here in this drab town. Unwitting, I caught sight of what must not be seen; my wretched plight, harsh exile from my laureate lettered sphere. The ancients tell of Actaeon, a brash voyeur, ravishing virgins his sanguine princely right. I think my...

. For Paavo Nurmi who trained against his stop-watch and in medias rez we begin as the runners approach the penultimate turn. Though their torsos are heaving, the sweat isn't beading—the storm of their pace won't permit it. The coach isn't screaming, he's merely observing: the race is a bet...

. Stop All The Clocks after W.H. Auden Stop all the clocks, stop all humdrum, Silence the warblers, their constant hum; Bid the sun to pause, just stand by And the moon to remain in the starless sky. He was my dusk, he was my dawn, Stop all the clocks,...

. Insomnia, My Sometime Muse She comes to me while I’m asleep,Not with strange imaginings of dreamsBut with fragmented thoughts. It seemsShe thinks they cannot keepBut must be worked upon, upon this hour.While I from Hypnos try to wrestSome morsel of his healing power,Sleep becomes a useless questAnd this vivid...

. The Nymph by Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561-1627) translated by Alan Steinle As morning sunlight first began to show, a nymph went out to tread the verdant plain. Although she plucked some flowers for a chain, her feet inspired many more to grow. The air began to warm...

. A Walk At Night She's clothed in light when she appears; Freckles speck her argent skin. Her dazzling smile is bright tonight, A lamp to earth's unhurried spin. I gaze at her ascending form And smile at her flirtatious ways. The times she hides behind a cloud While bathing...

. Poems by Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) translated by Daniel Howard . O Darling Turtledove __Oh darling turtledove, __You for your partner pine, And I lament the one that was not mine. __Widow who lost your love, __You from the branchlet bare, I from the bole’s dry foot call back my...

. Outside Chance I hold my heart out in my handpalm up, the same way one might offerseeds to birds. (They’d understandthe danger in the gifts I proffer:As tempting as the snack may be,if once their vigilance should slip---one glitch in their agility---they might be trapped within my grip.)As wise...

. The Name We Leave When we first breathe and start to peer, What we will be is still unclear. A book of pages yet unturned Is what we are when we appear. Whether assigned, purloined, or earned, And when a standing time has burned, The name revealed on every...

. Poem 101 by Catullus (circa 84-54 BC) translated by Bruce Phenix Conveyed through many countries, over many seas, to these poor funerary offerings I come to give you, brother, that last present for the dead and speak, to no avail, to ashes which are dumb. Poor brother, so unfairly...

. Crosses and Losses I tried to write a poem to acclaim The passion flashing like a lightning strike Between a man and woman, though the same Return to normal from a single spike. It’s hard to say true love is like those hearts Of valentines and candies from the...

. Contagious Joy a villanelle You always find a way to make me smile. Like sunlight tracing rainbows in the rain, Contagious joy is never out of style; The day we wed, when you walked down the aisle, You thought it funny when you snagged your train. You always find...

. Vintage Love Love is as a grape when it begins, Unblemished by the bruises and the sins That will come in time. For now it is Refreshing sweetness and delightfulness. Bewilderment accompanies the crush That violates that virgin crimson blush. Forgiving, leaning in, and letting go Allow for love...

. When? I’ll love you when the bee has lost its buzz, When wolf and bear have quit their howl and growl, When lambs don’t sport a snow-spun fleece of fuzz And hoots don’t float from barns that house an owl. I’ll love you when the spin of earth is stilled, When moons...

. . February 14, 2024 A heart of burning love, an ashen cross Converge today: the marriage of two kinds Of love. The feast day is St. Valentine’s--- Which, this year, intersects Ash Wednesday: Eros United with Agape.  This brave martyr’s Strong love enabled him to bear great tortures. He...

. Ash Wednesday Valentines by Charles d’Orléans (1394-1465), translated by Margaret Coats . I. Who’s there? Who comes so early, who? “It’s I myself.” Saint Valentine, you! Why turn up now at Carnival To keep Lent’s boozy vesperal? What booty at this rendezvous? At present, let’s not have your sweets,...

. Love Sonnet The glint of summer’s evening leaves a glow upon her cheek, so soft and plain and fair— the glister of the twilight hours show the rosebuds, luminescent in her hair. And all the earth now sings a lovely song— and all her creatures praises do employ as...

. My Beatrice III Affording still these glimpses like the first, those moments you were yet without a name; between us was the distance untraversed: the bringing into being what you became. Four times I glance into the rearview mirror, each time a Kurosawa axial cut: you’re here, then there,...

. The Fall of Time A Haiku Sonnet . Thinning coat of frost Whitening the ground with grief— Love forever lost Wrinkles on the leaf Yellowing a lawn undone— Beauty all too brief Spots upon the sun Reddening a field gone dry— Present on the run Cracks along the sky...

. Had I held you in the fields of Hay beside The Wye and on an afternoon that cleared To brilliance, although the sun soon would Sink to an evening in which darkness neared, Nothing so near as never---we could not--- Distracted us from purposes of each Other. We said...

. On Cats and Love My cat does not explain himself. He knows his reasons. Why must I? He needs to bathe while on a shelf Or hunt some trash? I don’t care why. I do not need to understand. I love him since he’s loyal, kind, And brings me...

. Failing at History She always argued when I used to say We were like the great lovers of the past. That was just woolly thinking, she’d insist: Each separate period of history Was quite different from us in the way They defined romance. So my exotic list--- Caesar and...

. New Year's Eve So swiftly tick the minutes to the close Of these twelve months, this day, and life itself! Which jars of clay will stay upon the shelf Another year, and which will break? God knows. For only He who gave us life has power To take us...

. Christmas 2010 "Love isn't something you find.  Love is something that finds you." ---Loretta Young I hadn't given up on love. I simply thought it couldn't be. I wouldn't buy the concept of A oneness for eternity But musings passing back and forth For moons across five thousand miles,...

. Love Nibbles and Bites He saw she was sad; deep inside, he was glad. He smiled, quite mild, and said, “My dear child, you once were beguiled by a love that seemed wild and yet, you’re no fool, so please let me step in to those places where someone...

. It Was Only a Winter’s Tale based on David Essex's classic 1982 Christmas song The nights are ever short and growing cold; the front door lies ajar from when you left one evening, though your reasons were untold, and in the time between I’ve been bereft. Your footprints have...

. . Music by Jeff Eardley . . The Return to Ithaca by Brian Yapko This shall not be forever, This life spent on the sea. __I’m going to find my one true love And joined again we’ll be. I’ll risk the howling tempest With sails high on the mast,...

. Remembrance I When I, a boy whom youth made bold, Had bid my land of birth one last adieu, To search for glory, fame and gold On distant shores, as seamen do, Drowning old worries in the waves of blue, Exchanging comfort for the cold, The land for sea,...

. Hero, Leander and Marlowe Setting: Christopher Marlowe’s flat in London. Date: May 29, 1593. At last I see the tyrant in the Muse--- She captivates, but those she loves she kills. Like Mephistopheles, adept at ruse, She forces me to plot out what she wills. Now trapped within my...

. . Love Songs for Malcolm . I. Quickly you approach, King Malcolm, Firm and steady is your tread, Predetermined on defeating Faint reluctance in the greeting Made by one you mean to wed. . English words surprise me, Malcolm, Asking questions delicate; Comfort for us you’ve promoted, Courtly words...

. What Do You Do When You No Longer Drink What do you do when you no longer drink, no tossing out the empties in a bag as one by one you hear that cautious clink then wipe end tables with a beer-soaked rag? Face reality? No, not right away....

. The Navy by Paul Fort (1872-1960) translated by Joshua C. Frank We find them all again in brief In little loves that last one day, Every joy and care and grief Of loves that shall forever stay— The sailor’s fate and our distress, And that of all our little...

. The Stream of Love Like swollen streams in Spring, young love will roarThrough every obstacle that checks its flow,Though not so fast that winter cannot slowIts great vitality, ‘til frozen o’er;But even as the Spring returns once more,To melt away the coldest of the snow,So Time unthaws the tears...

. Paths —Inspired by “Is Mod Se Jaate Hain” (see below) by Gulzar from the film: Aandhi, 1975 Sheer multitudes of paths diverge from here— Some are jet setters, some meander slowly— Which one among these paths should I draw near? Promising fame and fortune, some paths steer Me towards...