SeriousChristian.org Non-Prose

SeriousChristian.org

Non-Prose

For Linda, with Love
There’s nothing quite like love to make an otherwise sensible man think he can write poetry.
Mere
Love, can I now in words of one sound
Write sense to you of my heart?
Or will my wit, though searched, not be found
With a voice full to sing just one part?
Sound links to word links to phrase links to thought,
Light strikes the eye with its code.
Can e'en such waves lift the weight of my plot
Or bear up the size of this load?
Not well at all, if these lines show my skill.
They're not much—I'd cheat if I could.
My best is a rude try at verse, but I will
Try in hope that you'll think that it's good.

Your Smile
wide and welcoming as a gentle river on a summer day
warm and sunny as a July morning
spontaneous as a kitten
dimpling your cheeks as though with a clothespin
blessing when shown
the kids or the dog or even the phone
rejoicing my heart that you're mine
a lamp when turned my way to shine
burns me with gladness
to belong to you

I Missed Your Eyes
I missed your eyes today.
Where were they?
Your soul's windows
Shuttered, closed
My light clouded
Mood enshrouded
Brightness looked away.
I missed your eyes today.

LINDA
Light intensely needs day always.
Lately I need drastic attention.
Longing intensifies; night's desire arises.
Losing is never desirable alternative.
Loneliness—infinite, naked, dark, alarming—
Lurks inside. Nothing delivers all.
Life involves necessarily delayed attraction.
Letters inscribed nonsensically detail affection.

Anniversary Sonnet
Remembering Christmas Eve, 1977*
No present you could buy would give me pleasure
So much as one donation of a kiss.
A clever gift will never be a treasure
As priceless to me as a simple "Yes."
You cannot give so well as when, forbearing
My cold proposal one December night,
Accepting clumsy humor for the swearing
Of lifelong love, you understood my plight.
Such gold a seminarian may own
Is bound in books and prayers and divine call.
You took my raw collateral for the stone
I could not offer when I pledged my all.
Though now as then I'm poor to show a ring,
Accept the jewel Love which these words bring

As I See You
for our 27th anniversary
In my mind I have a view
timeless, ageless
all of you
unrealistically true
the nature of this image
timeless, yes, but not as in
some arctic cage
lifeless, cold and carved of stone - No!
a warm, a living visage
not an impression solitary
but a collage, a gallery
of artcraft, each one bringing now so
vivid a portrait
that only my eyes see
the future tense of memory
imagination filtered through reality

All compositions written by Garry D. Nation. All rights reserved.

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