She was translucent in that you could see her much as you could see anyone else in the reflected light of the sun. But even more so because that very light, the light of the sun, seemed to penetrate her flawless fair skin as if the silky smooth surface was entirely opaque. It gave her a subtle inner incandescence, slightly phosphorescent with those self emitting hints of blues and greens that warmly peaked in her eyes and the waves of cascading hair. Her teeth showed it gently sparkling through in a radiant white smile, as did her fingernails and earlobes adorning hands and face with beckoning ripples of a delicate halo. Also, it appeared to come out the other side of her as a a soft white aura. One that flowed behind her like a short comet tail. Present, but never quite seen. Gently wavering before your eyes fully caught on. A ripple across space. In such a way you knew of its definitive presence despite its elusiveness. Everyone wanted to know her. Absolutely, and me more than most. She gave me a feeling of desperate hunger - for what I could never be quite sure. It felt like I could be satisfied with just ..... a look from those penetrating eyes, a touch with those sensuous long fingers, any form of acknowledgement. However, I also recognised unreality when I saw it. In reality I wanted everything she would never give and that scared the shit out of me. For a long time I had longed for her from afar. Drained of other interests, preoccupied with dreams of passionate love and warm companionship. Yet whenever I got close I found I had only a faded shadow of myself to offer. Dulled. Stultified by her imposing mien. Standing in a dark space she exuded a glowing presence. Her very own unique light. Standing in a light space she somehow overcame the ambient lux with her very own lustre. She could not be unseen. So, I watched from a distance instead. The best thing I could ever have done as I saw one friend, champion, lover, partner, suitor and sycophant after another get irreparably burned. Scorched to the point of disfigurement by a desirable body and a vital heart, a quick brain and a ruthless mind, an unsolvable enigma beyond anybody’s ken. Eventually, I understood that for all the attraction of that internally lit, beautiful, vibrant, illuminated woman, her translucence meant no matter how close you got, no matter how hard you tried, no matter what you applied - I and no one else could or would ever see into her, just right through to the other side. This was an infatuation I would survive, but even today, years later, the mystery, the hope, the longing, the anticipation and speculation have never fully subsided.
Tag Archives: love
I always try not to
I missed you from the many everyday and milestone events in the life of a child and mother’s son
Although I always tried not too
The other deaths in the family to come
I always tried to avoid them as well
The ailments, injuries and recoveries
The aspirations, failures and victories
The exploration of new learnings
The celebrating of new skills
The sharing of self discovery
The chore taught domestic fundamentals
The sharing of hopes and sadnesses
The soundings decision sharing
The turmoil of adolescence
The breakdown of family
The need to talk when there was no one at home
The anonymous housekeepers who worked on their own
The living with grandparents who couldn’t understand
The attempts to erase your death
The problems and joys of schoolboy life
The holidays in your absence
The welcoming of new friends and girlfriends to our empty home
The experimentation
The wonder of a loving wife who might have been your friend
The graduations and award ceremonies
The choices about where and how to live
The arrival of children you would never know and who would never know you
The financial advice and life counselling
The support during child raising
The new jobs and directions
The sadnesses and hopes
The welcoming of our children's partners
The arrival of grandchildren
The transition to retirement
All the things we could have enjoyed together, but never got the chance
I missed you in all these times
And every now and then I still do
Although I always try not too
Lessons in love
Yearning
Devotion
Tenderness
Disturb your equilibrium
Ardour
Amorousness
Attachment
Just let them come
Endearment
Affection
Move in your direction
This movement can’t be smothered
Sweetheart
Dear heart
Give your far and near heart
Wherever to your beloved
Hold it
Extol it
Embrace, enfold it
The desire for your one and only other
Give it
Take it
Taste it
The passion for your lover
Freely love
Don’t measure love
Pleasure your love
Give no reason for redress
Miss your love
Kiss your love
Bliss your love
Speak your love, confess
Trust love
You can love
Appreciate love lost
The benefits you will see
In love
Of love
For love
Love was, is and will be
Their hands
Their hands when they touch
Flow from rolling of wrists
Each touch is a signal
Each touch is a kiss
Their fingers are folding
On whispers and secrets
Cupped hands are holding
All ahead that will be
Their fingers trace circles
On their palms telling futures
Tender are the touches
Of their hands as their tutors
Their hands rest together
One on top of the other
Their hands mark their measure
Their harmonious hands
Their hands spread out
Open and true
Telling each story
Each soul on view
Hands hold each heart
Supporting each core
Their hands do the learning
Of what more to adore
The extension of hands
The parallel lines
Pads of sensitive fingers
Their dreaming defines
There are fists and shaking
The are dips and rise
There are quivering fingers
Before flickering eyes
When hands arc with arms
To gracious embrace
The lovers say nothing
As hands touch each face
Delicate lines are drawn
Across soft skinned cheeks
Then with touches to lips
Mouths start to seek
Two seeing hands
guide the blind
Sensuous and caressing they massage
to unwind
Four hands synchronise
to breathe in kind
in waves of love
entwined
life is to death as tears are to rain
Bright is the light that shines on me
as I dwell finally
in deathbed reverie
the doctor he talks
and talks and he talks
my wife she weeps
and weeps and she weeps
and time it creeps
and creeps and it creeps
what is this light that shines above
lights pallid face of death
to my love
the darkness it resists
and resists and it resists
in brilliance it glows
and glows and it glows
in radius it grows
and grows and it grows
this light that calls me as my light fades
this light that draws me
to the night of shades
with death it walks
and walks and it walks
my feeble hand I raise and wave
I waver and it waves
faces watch uncertain so grave
grave and so grave
I see my hand stir dust in the air
second last thing I will see anywhere
the dust it wafts
and wafts and it wafts
my brow is mopped
and mopped and is mopped
my hand drops
I drop and it drops
as dust I settle back onto deaths bed
into the pillow sinks my head
life’s weight I shed
I shed and I shed
looking down into the room
I am surprised it is lit
by only gloom
the husk has collapsed
collapsed collapsed
hollowed of life
of life and of life
beside my wife
my wife my beloved wife
the dust dispersed draws my spirit in
and back to dust
I go again
the gift I leave is small but complete
I was loved and I loved
I am replete
Today’s dverse prompt is from Laura, to write words of departure based on your choice from a set of quotes. I chose the quote from a favourite and most remarkable movie – “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.” Roy Batty, Blade Runner.
Juliet and Romeo
Juliet is all slick and wet her long hair in her eyes she has been hit by an idiot drunk driving by bye bye Romeo roams idly by sees the girl on the ground He looks at her quizzically then realises what he has found Juliet breathes in gasps as blood pools under her back She looks up sees Romeo last look last love as limbs go slack Romeo’s not much you know but this time things are different He wipes the hair from glazed eyes and wonders where her life went Juliet rises above the scene She watches Romeo He cradles her head gently in his lap He whimpers out a moan Romeo struck by love’s full fist his only love has gone He whines he weeps at his loss Death into his soul creeps Juliet bears final witness to Romeo’s last testament “Did my heart truly love till now?” he whispers For the first time he knows what love meant “Good night Good night” “Thus with a kiss I too die” He declares to her death pale face Romeo bends his head down tenderly brushes her cold lips with his own he lets her head down lightly beside him as he lies quietly beside her takes her right hand with his left Romeo from his pocket retrieves a knife meant for other men he eases the blade between his ribs it finds his broken heart As blood pools under his back his life is also gone Juliet utters one last cry of grief before she disappears or was that one last cry of relief in hope he reappears for never was there a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo
Ingrid’s prompt for this week’s dVerse poetics was “Homage to the Bard.” I chose to write a poem approximately on the theme of Romeo and Juliet. https://dversepoets.com/2022/04/26/poetics-homage-to-the-bard/
The beginning of a life together
We first lived together below Tawonga Gap beneath mountains capped with snow In a Happy Valley cottage by a valley threading creek, the Happy Valley flow Where trout could be watched hunting or basking below the surface And rocks were smoothed and sandy beds were lit by sunny luminance It met the Ovens River at the bottom of our hills Joining other tributary waters of mountain rivers, creeks and rills Where the crystal waters ran clean, clear and bright Where the snow melt chilled the river deep to summer’s great delight We shared an abandoned cottage dusted off for our loving residence After approaching the farmer about its rental and to make his acquaintance That small cottage at the bottom of a gully became our first home With surrounding hills and mountains our romantic place to roam Where the land about us and its occupants were both so ancient and so old And the farmer who was born there had so many stories to be told The days were long our backs were strong as we stepped outside the door And the fruits of our labour on the block fed us more and more We took the offered chook manure from the empty runs out back Enriched the soil, dug the beds, sowed farmer’s seeds, we did not lack The planted seedlings turned to vegetables as if by magic overnight Their abundance when we harvested fed us and friends heartily every night The dairy herd had long since gone and beef were the local stock But one house cow remained for butter and milk beside the dairy block Daily hand squeezed from her teats was milk so creamy and rich It was hard to drink, and harder to say we thought we couldn’t stomach it We had to tell the farmer not to deliver each and every morn But he was good he understood stopped delivering without scorn At days end an historic long tin bath bathed us once water was heated hot Soothing us and cleaning us of grime and sweat gathered on the plot The back step was the place to sit for weaving, sewing and repair The hammock was the place to hang and relax either alone or as a pair To hear the wind, to feel the still, to think and to contemplate To reflect on the newness of life together, the pleasures to appreciate And now forty years on I still think back gratefully to that time With certainty of knowing here were the foundations of a life together This life of yours and mine
Today’s d’verse prompt came from Laura, to write a pome recalling some specific thing or things from the past. https://dversepoets.com/2021/11/09/poetics-in-the-light-of-other-days/
The Photograph
when weary travelling an image of you I look at when I rest your portrait kept in a locket of gold warm between my breasts I see the small photograph and am reminded of what I’ve left with longing I wish to be home again my head upon your chest
For today’s d’verse prompt from Sanaa I chose the derivative Option 2. To think of a word. I thought of “image.” To use a derivative to create a poem. The derivative I chose was “photograph”. https://dversepoets.com/2021/09/07/poetics-dungeons-and-derivatives/
Parting
I know I won’t be missing you Because you live in my heart too It’s not about having your body here In my mind you’re everywhere You also reside in a time and space A place of love of ethereal grace That supersedes corporeal and now That’s my commitment and our vow We've shared our lives together as one With room to grow, make our own fun As I watch you go and that time closes I can’t think of what the future poses Yes it hurts, it’s unbearably sad But it’s also a marker of the joy we had Of the pleasure in each other’s company Of everything that will stay with me No matter what becomes of us as an earthly pair Always in my heart you'll be everywhere So rest my darling have a peaceful night Tomorrow we’ll see what comes of light Though parting is near even in plain sight We’ll be together forever come what might
my velvet declaration of love
softer than the sigh of a dying wind gentler than the onset of twilight quiet as the shadows of nightfall light as a mantle of misting rain I brush your lips with mine then I do it again
You complete me
When I’m suffering you are comfort When I’m gross you are delicate When I’m angry you defuse When I falsely accept you refuse When I’m tired you are energy When I’m stupid you think for me When I’m injured you like to treat When I’m messy you are neat When I’m hard metal you are gossamer soft When I’m the basement you are the loft When I’m cold you wrap around When I’m noisy you make no sound When I’m down you cheer me up When I’m timid you play rough When my boat is sinking you bail me out When my voice is weak I hear you shout When I’m dull you are sharp When I’m empty you fill my heart When I fight you patch my wounds When I’m near reefs you take sounds When I’m defenceless you fortify When I am passive you defy When I make sense you mark my words When I don’t you shoot barbs When I sketch you paint our world When I'm straight you are curled When I’m at bottom you are the tops When I am crime you call the cops When I’m sweet you are sour as lemon When I’m sour you are sweet as heaven When there's rocks in my head you are sphagnum moss When I am matt finish you are gloss When I’m woodwork you are craft When we struggle you find a raft "You complete me" seanmathews.blog strathbogie poetry #strathbogiepoetry
“You complete me” from Jerry Maguire1966, is my chosen quote to write to for this week’s d’verse prompt. Mish challenged d’verse poets to select a movie quote and incorporate it into a poem. https://dversepoets.com/2021/05/25/poetics-go-ahead-make-my-day/
The shallow of looking deep

I’m still drowning in the water of you
My feet can’t find the bottom
I don’t know what to do
It’s like all we’ve done’s forgotten
I know it was a blind step
A leap into the dark
When straight after we met
I let you leave your mark
Now I wonder what that time was worth
Those years since spent together
Now I give a wide berth
To your dark and stormy weather
I still don’t know you, I never did
What is it that I was missing?
Disappointment of which I’m never rid
A deflating balloon, ever hissing
When I reflect on you as a person
You’re surrounded by a wall
As I watched our relationship worsen
You never heard my drowning call
Was your silence about making a choice?
Or were you incapable and you couldn’t?
Could you not hear my pleading voice?
Everything about you said you wouldn’t
Did I simply miss you’re shallow?
Because I was always looking for the deep
Is it there was nothing to really know?
The wasted years make me want to weep
strathbogie poetry
strathbogie photography
Sublime
Soft touch Soft lips Hug held Soft hips So precious So fine So perfect Sublime
The vicissitudes of life
From birth through growth to the time of decline From decline to decay such a time is mine For all that went before for all that went astray For all that has been given and will be taken away I see the patterns unfold through my life by the gloaming of hindsight The illumination of knowing through latter years' insight As the past stretches out behind me the future road is short The decisions I have made will shortly come to nought I take one last chance to pass on the learning of my years One last chance to help those to come if those to come have ears History is our greatest teacher for handling the vicissitudes of life Human nature is our undoing when handling the inconvenient truths of advice Secure your future with love and enough wealth is the best advice I can give Working to this end gives hope which gives purpose to how you live Start early and start young to earn a path to joy and learn to take your rest Don’t deviate from this path but keep it flexible to be your very best Loss may strike you without notice grief may haunt your very door Grow from your loss for better to turn haunting to past lore Change will come unanticipated may shake you to your core See change as opportunity to put each foot firmly on the floor Wealth does not mean riches just resilience and security For you, your partners, your dependents, your growing maturity Be love and wealth empowered so that choices can be made Be moral with you choices and ethically do not fade When love comes your way hold it closely to your heart If love lost should leave you reeling be proud that you took part Know you have been loved and can love again because love is all around If one thing is known it is all want love and with time it can be found
Bring your love

Lover’s touch
The curve and swing of shapely hip
Inclines my eye to stray aslip
Invites a touch a lover’s grip
That pulls you in for ear lobe nip
My hand upon your rising chest
Tells me how deep you are at rest
The rate and depth of rise and fall
Is enough to tell a lover all
The fingertips that stroke my back
Are fingertips with lover’s knack
For tantalising or powerful pressure
To change a mood for love or leisure
My lips upon your upraised mouth
As tongues flicker lightly about
Full and soft moist and wet
I cannot forgo I’ll ne’er forget
The foot that strokes my leg in bed
Before we sleep each night has said
With this caress I love you each night
A touch confirming love’s delight
The cheek that absorbs teardrops weight
Is the cheek I brush for comfort’s sake
At the pleasure of our love’s great joy
At grief’s sadness when loss employs
Partners: are your blind spots ruining your relationship?
I am so fortunate to have been with my partner for a wonderful 40 years. Sometimes I slip into self congratulation because I feel we have been in a loving sweet spot for so long it makes me very happy to think about it. I try not to take this for granted at any time. However, I do forget periodically and find myself thinking we have everything sorted. I am sure no one does. You both have to keep paying attention
Paying attention requires the ongoing element of mindfulness. To remind myself to be mindful, every now and then I read or listen to stories that may shed light on how relationships work and fail. I think it is a good practice. I continue to learn. From the article I am sharing below I better understood a particular destructive relationship dynamic, invalidation of a partner’s perspective. This understanding can be applied to seemingly trivial concerns. These apparently small things can accumulate to have dramatic outcomes. Are you receptive, perceptive and empathetic enough to see both sides? I think it is worth a read.
Seasonal visits

Come and see me with autumn’s fall
We’ll share the light and colour
I‘ll always answer your call
Come and see me in winter time
When the wind blows cold
Makes our warmth sublime
Come and see me in joyful spring
When the world renews
Our time for loving
Come and see me in summer heat
When we can seek cool places
Where and whenever we meet
Or come and see me forever one day
And we’ll stay together
Forever always
If it wasn’t
If it wasn’t for your touching me
I wouldn’t know what touch could be
If it wasn’t for your sweet embrace
I would never have looked into your face
If it wasn’t for your sparkling eyes
I wouldn’t have seen just where love lies
If it wasn’t for your soft whispering
I wouldn’t know my heart could sing
If it wasn’t for your soft warm kiss
I would never have known what I missed
If it wasn’t for you warmth at night
I wouldn’t know what two just might
If it wasn’t for your body bare
I wouldn’t have loved you everywhere
If it wasn’t for your faith in me
I wouldn’t know how far to see
If it wasn’t for you my own true love
I wouldn’t know to rise above
I hold this all so close to me
I use it all to keep me free
So I’m the one I want to be
The one who loves. You eternally.
Two meals a day
Time for dinner
Well, we all knew what that meant
Time for the end of the day
Time to send friends on their way
Time to come in from outside
Time to come out from your room
Time to stop homework
Time to put down that book
Time to race to the bathroom
Time to tuck in that shirt
And brush your hair
Time to scrub those hands
Polish that face
Ready for inspection
Time to transform from
Rough and ready rascal
To be seen and not heard
Time to never be late
Time to take your designated
Place at the table quietly
With bowed head
Time to await your plate
Time to scan the newspaper
Standing tall in thick fingered hairy hands
At the other end of the table
Only the front and back pages ever viewed
While mum dutifully served
And offspring mutely ate
An unchallenged meal
Of meat and three veg
Tinned fruit
and milk for the weeds
She spoken to but never heard
They spoke at and ever erred
Sitting in silence always unnerved
Once fed desperate for dismissal
Before something went wrong
Before the security of bed
Where the anticipation of morning
And a new day unhindered
Would see a smiling chatty woman serve
And happily scold misdemeanours
In a bustling kitchen full of life
Breaking our bread
While the breadwinner toiled away
At that unhappy and mysterious place called work
Captivating and unexpected
Heading in opposite directions,
I saw her across the intersection.
The lights changed,
we both stepped into the street.
My eyes instantly locked onto her attractive pale oval face.
As she came closer our eyes met fleetingly.
She was captivating and unexpected.
After that first time I saw her
she became a recurring
dream.
And yet, we had not exchanged a word.
It was the light in her eyes that concentrated my attention.
They sparkled with mischief, fun, delight and joy of life.
They were irresistible.
I intuitively knew they were telling it true.
Despite never knowing it before,
I knew Immediately I had been looking for those eyes forever,
looking for the person behind them all my life.
And there they were,
passing me on the road,
disappearing as fast as they appeared,
part of a human wave heading home from work,
also irresistible.
I have heard people say the first thing they fell in love with
were their partner’s eyes.
Well, these were those eyes.
They spoke to me directly, urgently.
of being together,
telling me there was more I must learn here,
all the things I needed to know for the right future
were behind those rich brown eyes
with the big dark pupils of evening.
Just those two deep pools of enticement alone were enough.
They called on me to throw caution to the wind,
to surrender myself to the yearning,
to give up everything for her
And I would have right there and then too
had not we been separated
at the very same instant we didn’t meet.
Moved by the pressed bodies of a dense compacted throng
going one way and the other,
as we passed I turned trying find her,
earnestly scanning the back of
as many sombre grey hats, coats and heads as I could,
engaged in a process of rapid fire elimination
until I caught my foot on the curb and stumbled.
I looked again.
She was gone.
Every following evening I waited at that corner.
Enveloped in my own dark winter proof cladding.
Examining the crowds.
Scrutinising every office worker heading home to dinner.
Muffled and reserved.
I sought that same light, that one bright spark, that point of difference
in the fast fading dusk of shortening days.
My own hope fading
as each short day felt longer and lonelier.
It was on the same day of the next week
she reappeared.
A Thursday.
How could no one else be alert to her quiet warm aura,
gently glowing against a background of gloomy evensong,
the trudging of homeward bound feet.
I fell for her.
I mean literally.
I was so preoccupied with not losing sight of her
I darted across traffic and was bowled over at her feet.
She almost fell over me.
She quickly sidestepped,
bent over,
put out her hand
and pulled me up.
All in one graceful movement.
She saved me from a trampling
and alternate futures
I didn’t want to contemplate
We stepped out of the human tide
into a shopfront vestibule.
She asked if I was alright?
I wasn’t. I was so embarrassed
I couldn’t speak but,
she just smiled
she straightened my coat, looked
me up and down,
said “That’s better” and asked would I like a cup of tea?
Three hours later we were still at that little table for two in the Block Arcade café.
Those eyes told no lies.
The Way
The way a beloved dog rests a lazy head upon your knee
The way a wooing look invites you toward mutual intimacy
The way a cup of tea slows time and calms an over active mind
The way a good book immerses you in new realities that bind
The way a word becomes a story, a poem comes of rhyme
The way a voice becomes emotion, movement becomes a mime
The way a favourite song transports you back to that special place
The way a touch can speak of love as it brushes across your face
The way a first wildflower discovered announces coming spring
The way a view from a mountain can make your heart leap and sing
The way a beautiful landscape incites gratefulness, awe and joy
The way a true love will not waste time with you by being coy
The way a walk in the forest restores hope, balance and well being
The way a look deep into the stars can change your way of seeing
The way a composted garden grows better in space and over time
The way a perception can be a knowing, a knowing can be a sign
The way a naked body is a beautiful body as long as there is beauty inside
The way a grievous loss becomes warm memory after someone special has died
The way a child’s innocence equates with unqualified trust
The way our lives play out
Live best you can
After it’s just
Dust
Y C U?
I wonder what it is I see you for
When all I crave is to see you more
There’s your smell I can’t resist
My melting heart after we’ve kissed
Your fingertip pressure upon my spine
Body electric your touch divine
The texture of your warm soft skin
The brush and rush of lovemaking
The way you walk and swing your hips
The way you talk with precious lips
Your voice a sound of sweetest measure
The sound of true love‘s spoken pleasure
The way you think and make me wonder
You shake my world, views torn asunder
And when you challenge it stirs in me
New hope and ways that I can see
Your hair holds aloft a thorny crown
You turn the wind right way around
Your shoulders strong they carry me
Arms embrace me meaningfully
Our limbs entwined our hearts on fire
Together, inspired, alight, desire
When your nose nuzzles my neck
I feel the comfort of a future set
The deep, dark pools behind your eyes
They drive me to resist good byes
I love to love you in every way
I need to see you every day
These are the reasons
Y I C U
Their hands
Their hands when they touch
Flow from rolling of wrists
Each touch is a signal
Each touch is a kiss
Their fingers are folding
On whispers and secrets
Cupped hands are holding
All ahead that will be
Their fingers trace circles
On their palms telling futures
Tender are the touches
Of their hands as their tutors
Their hands rest together
One on top of the other
Their hands mark their measure
Their harmonious hands
Their hands spread out
Open and true
Telling each story
Each soul on view
Hands hold each heart
Supporting each core
Their hands do the learning
Of what more to adore
The extension of hands
The parallel lines
Pads of sensitive fingers
Their dreaming defines
There are fists and shaking
There are dips and rise
There are quivering fingers
Before flickering eyes
When hands arc with arms
To gracious embrace
The lovers say nothing
As hands touch each face
Delicate lines are drawn
Across soft skinned cheeks
Then with touches to lips
Mouths start to seek
Two seeing hands
guide the blind
Sensuous and caressing they massage
Four hands synchronise
to breathe in kind
Entwined
in waves of love
My aubade
My aubade for thee
Played lovingly
Under window thine
On morning fine
Post sleepless night
Love’s tortured plight
I sing to confess
Hand on breast
As my music plays
I see our days
Together ahead
In love’s soft bed
Rich with the melody
Of my love for thee
Listen my love
At rest above
Unto me call
To climb thy wall
Open thy window
Into which I’ll go
To lie with thee
In love’s company