~Poems I Love~

These are poems I have come across from one place or another that have touched some part of my soul. Unfortunately, I didn't write them, but they are among my favorites. I hope you take the time to read them and understand why I love them so...




Don't Be Fooled
From Opposite Ends
Choice
Life and Love
It Doesn't Matter
To Those I Love
After a While
A Dog's Plea
Moon in Scorpio
Miss You
Worlds Apart
A Father's Lament
The Night

Don't Be Fooled By Me

Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear.
For I wear a thousand masks,
masks that I'm afraid to take off.
and none of them are me.
Pretending is an art that is second nature to me,
but don't be fooled, for God's sake don't be fooled.
I give the impression that I am secure,
that all is sunny and unruffled with me,
within as well as without;
that confidence is my name and coolness is my game;
that the waters' calm and I am in command,
that I need no one.
But don't believe me, Please...
I idly talk to you in the suave tones of surface talk.
I tell you everything that is really nothing,
and nothing of whats' everything.
Of whats' crying within me;
so when I'm going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I'm saying.
Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying,
what I'd like to be able to say,
what for survival I need to say, but what I can't say.

I dislike hiding, Honestly!
I dislike the superficial game I'm playing, the phony game.
I'd really like to be genuine and spontaneous and me.
but you've got to help me.
You've got to hold out your hand,
even when it's the last thing I seem to want.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes
the blank stare of breathing death.
Only you can call me into aliveness.
Each time your are kind, and gentle, and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings, very small wings,
very feeble wings, but wings.
With your sensitivity and sympathy,
and your power of understanding,
you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.

I want you to know how important you are to me,
how you can be the creator of the person
that is me if you choose to.
Please choose to.
You alone can break down the wall
behind which I tremble, you alone can remove
my mask.
You alone can release me
from my shadow-world of panic and
uncertainty, from my lonely person.
Do not pass me by.
Please...do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.
A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach me, the blinder I strike back.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
but I am told that love is stronger than walls,
and in this lies my hope.
Please try to beat down those walls with firm hands,
but gentle hands--for a child is very sensitive.
Who am I, you may wonder.
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man you meet
and I am every woman you meet.

So, please, don't be fooled by me!

anonymous

From Opposite Ends

From opposite ends
of the earth
we came,
trundling
our bags,
our treasures,
our laughter,
our hearts.
From opposite ends
of the city
we came,
from different points
where we
once stood,
so near,
yet far apart.
From opposite ends
of the world
we came,
silent and cautious,
unseen.
From opposite ends
of a lifetime
we came,
and found
a breath
of magic
hovering
in between.
From opposite ends
of a kiss
we come,
to hold
each other
tight
beneathe
a starry sky.
From opposite ends
of a heart
we smile,
two lives
blended
into one,
with no more
opposites
to approach,
but simply together
laughing
and young,
the beautiful man
that you are,
and I.

Danielle Steele


Choice

I'd rather have the thought of you
To hold against my heart,
My spirit to be taught of you
With west winds blowing,
Than all the warm caresses
Of another love's bestowing,
Or all the glories of the world
In which you had no part.

I'd rather have the theme of you
To thread my nights and days,
I'd rather have the dream of you
with faint stars glowing,
I'd rather have the want of you,
The rich, elusive taunt of you
Forever and forever and forever unconfessed
Than claim the alien comfort
Of any other's breast.

Oh lover! Oh my lover,
That this should come to me!
I'd rather have the hope of you,
Ah, love, I'd rather grope for you
Within the great abyss
Than claim another's kiss--
Alone I'd rather go my way
Throughout eternity.

Angela Morgan


Life and Love

Fast this Life of mine was dying,
Blind already and calm as death,
Snowflakes on her bosom lying
Scarcely heaving with her breath.

Love came by, and having known her
In a dream of fabled lands,
Gently stooped, and laid upon her
Mystic chrism of holy hands;

Drew his smile across her folded
Eyelids, as the swallow dips;
Breathed as finely as the cold did
Through the locking of her lips.

So, when Life looked upward, being
Warmed and breathed on from above,
What sight could she have for seeing,
Evermore. . . but only Love?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning


It Doesn't Matter

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for,
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,
for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain,
mine or your own,
without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy,
mine or your own;
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers
and toes without cautioning us to be careful,
be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

I want to know if you can see beauty
even when it is not pretty every day,
and if you can source your life from the great spirits presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure,
yours and mine, and still
stand on the edge of a lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,
weary and bruised to the bone,
and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you are,
how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself,
and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

author unknown

To Those I Love

If I should ever leave you,
Whom I love
To go along the silent way. . .
Grieve not.
Nor speak of me with tears.
But laugh and talk of me
As if I were beside you there.

(I'd come. . .I'd come,
Could I but find a way!
But would not tears and
And grief be barriers?)

And when you hear a song
Or see a bird I loved,
Please do not let the thought of me
Be sad. . .for I am loving you
Just as I always have. . .

You were so good to me!
There are so many things
I wanted still to do. . .
So many things I wanted to say
to you. . . Remember that
I did not fear. . . It was
Just leaving you
That was so hard to face.

We cannot see beyond. . .
But this I know:
I loved you so. . .
'twas heaven here with you!

Isla Paschal Richardson

After a While

After a while you learn
the subtle difference between
holding a hand
and chaining a soul.
and you learn that love doesn't
mean leaning
and company doesn't always
mean security.
and you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up
and your eyes ahead
with the grace of a woman
not the grief of a child.
and you learn
to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow's ground is
too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling
down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much
so then you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting
for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn
that you really can endure
that you really are strong
and you really have worth
and you learn
and you learn
with every goodbye. . . you learn.

Veronica A. Shoffstall


A Dog's Plea

Treat me kindly, my beloved friend, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me.

Do not break my spirit with a stick, for though I might lick your hand between blows, your patience and understanding will more quickly teach me the things you would have me learn.

Speak to me often, for your voice is the world's sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footstep falls upon my waiting ear.

Please take me inside when it is cold and wet, for I am a domesticated animal, no longer accustomed to the bitter elements. I ask no greater glory than the priviledge of sitting at your feet beside the hearth.

Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst.

Feed me clean food that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side, and to stand ready, willing and able to protect you with my life, should your life be in danger.

And my friend, when I am very old, and I no longer enjoy good health, hearing and sight, do not make heroic efforts to keep me going. I am not having any fun.

Please see that that my trusting life is taken gently. I shall leave this earth knowing with the last breath I draw that my fate was always safest in your hands. . .


Annonymous

Moon in Scorpio

Tonight,
Inside of you,
In your arms,
An umbilical cord
Connects me
To your soul...
Inside your entrance
I am reborn,
Baptized within you
By warm, intimate waters;
Sustained and sated
By your river of life
--Until that blissful little death
In your arms,
Inside of you,
Tonight...

Copyright 1997 Raymond C. Sison. All rights reserved.

Miss You

I miss you, but I haven't met you yet.
something so special, but it hasn't happened yet.
You are gorgeous, but I haven't met you yet.
I remember but, it hasn't happened yet.
and if you believe in dreams...
or what is more important... that a dream
can come true I will meet you.

I was peaking, but it hasn't happened yet
I haven't been given my best souvenir.
I miss you, but I haven't met you yet.
I know your habits, but wouldn't recognize you yet.
and if you believe in dreams...
or what is more important... that a dream
can come true I will meet you.

I'm so impatient I can't stand the wait.
when will I get my cuddle?
Who are you?
I know by now that you'll arrive
by the time I stop waiting.. I miss you.

anonymous



Worlds Apart

Worlds apart,
yet we are so close
underneath the same stars we pray
together we think of one another
but we are unable to touch.
It is cold and lonely
yet your love has kept me warm.

Worlds apart,
yet we are so close
tonight I pray,
I pray that once again
I will see that warm smile
that has turned my world around.
That smile that can turn a frown around
I pray that once again I can feel that warm embrace
that once told me everything will be ok.
Most of all I pray tonight, that my friend,
so near and dear, is all right.

Cynthi Dangizer



A Father's Lament

in the gloom
of that desolate room,
I cried...Nay, not for me,
Not for me.
For one I love,
so sweet and innocent...

I cried to see
Her pain and misery,
for, without...She, not I, does without
Her mothers touch,
Her mothers smile,
She knows naught else but grief...

The snow outside,
and mud besides,
I see,...cold, no warmth there,
my Child, you see,
has none but me
to dry Her tears, Her fears to ease...

--Am I strong enough, to guide Her through
to see that life is good?
I pray for strength, on bended knee
that I am...or can be...--

My Child, my Child, where would I be without my Child?!
Or yet, more importantly, where would She be, without me?
Together we drift through life leaning on and helping one another...
Tho She's moved out, and on Her own, we're closer now than e're...

but She, still hurting, tries not to show it,
and I, too, grieve, for the burden She bears.
Would that God would mend Her heart, and give to me Her pain!
For every time I see Her pain, it breaks my heart again...

by ColtAR15, (copyright John H. Littlejohn, 27 Jan 97).



The Night

The night...again it beckons...so dark, so still, so....lonely
Again...no arms to hold me...while pain, and fear,.....attack

Pain...from memories, and emotions cold
Fear...of emptiness, and growing old.

Alone I travel these seas of life
With no-one to call my loving wife
Alone into the night I go
To live or die, I do not know....

But the real question is...should I, can I, do I...care?

by ColtAR15 (copyright John H Littlejohn, 29 July 97)