When we first met it was entirely by accident. Even now I remember it clearly, although almost four decades have passed by since then. It was one of those lovely bright sunny days that are so typical of Paris in the springtime. I was strolling along the Boulevard Haussmann, just outside the Magasin au Printemps where the pretty girls were selling their bunches of lily of the valley as...

Added 11 Jun 2019 | Category Romance | Votes 5 | Avg Score 5 | Views 123 | 3 Comments

My dearest wife, it has been such a long winter, Hard and bitter, draining the heart and soul of hope. It has been doubly hard for you, so much sadness, Almost too much to bear, with the illness of friends, And frozen pipes, and the children's difficulties,   Such a long catalogue of woes, you look so tired,   New lines of care on your face, and fresh streaks of grey   Staining the golden...

Added 31 May 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 2 | Avg Score 5 | Views 169

I pray you, do not trample on my dreams.   Though you may only see this mortal shell, A frail thing of flesh; this outward reality,   Is of no greater substance than the air,  Masking the real truth that lies within  From the unperceptive gaze of the world. Though my years have passed the Biblical span And I am well advanced on the dread path  That leads to senility and decay, ...

Added 30 May 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 3 | Avg Score 5 | Views 151 | 1 Comment

How desperately he wished he understood her, The elusive lady who had stolen his heart, But every time he thought she was within his grasp Once more she seemed to vanish into the shadows, Leaving him to flounder in the darkness of doubt. There were many times when the flame of her presence Burned so intensely it threatened to consume him; Days and nights when they rode on a wave...

Added 24 May 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 2 | Avg Score 5 | Views 205

A poet wrote, “parting is such sweet sorrow,” A cloying sentiment I would dispute, The fading of love spawns such bitter fruit, Better death than to awake the morrow. Though the fruit of love’s dawning seems so sweet, The joy of its consumption is but brief And rapture turns too soon to anguished grief, For the pleasure of love is but deceit. The promises of amorous desire, Of endless bliss...

Added 03 May 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 6 | Avg Score 5 | Views 245 | 5 Comments

It’s on summer nights such as this That I remember so clearly; Sitting in my chair in silence As the daylight fades from the sky And the soft air folds about me Like a soothing blanket of peace.   It’s on gentle nights such as this That I remember so clearly; Looking out across the calm loch To the fell-sides outlined ink black Against the paler indigo Of the star bedecked...

Added 30 Apr 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 4 | Avg Score 5 | Views 243 | 2 Comments

Impassive sentinel of history, Mute and inscrutable you stand alone, Floating serenely on a sea of sand, Unmoved by the passage of centuries And indifferent to the countless hordes  Whose brief existence has been conducted Within sight of your enigmatic gaze, You are a stark and silent testament  To the folly of human vanity And its desire for immortality; For the bodies of those...

Added 24 Apr 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 5 | Avg Score 5 | Views 256 | 2 Comments

There is no doubt that poetry has a unique ability to move the human spirit; an ability shared only with music and far more so than even the greatest prose, however impassioned. It is, therefore, no surprise that the greatest composers have felt impelled to set poetry to music; and whilst the lyrics of much popular music are repetitive and banal, the works that will survive are those where...

Added 27 Sep 2018 | Category Musings | Votes 5 | Avg Score 5 | Views 235 | 6 Comments

When I was young and lustfully inclined I set my sails to cross the wine dark seas In search of lands where lotus eaters lived, Seduced by tales of hedonistic joys; A world of myriad fleshly delights And unrestrained sensual indulgence, Where I could gorge on luscious nubile fruits In endless days of sweet debauchery.   With never a moment’s pause for regret Or backward glance to...

Added 16 Apr 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 3 | Avg Score 5 | Views 256 | 2 Comments

“Are you coming,” she said, with that look in her eye, That bewitching look that could melt the coldest heart, And in that instant I became her willing slave Forever condemned to do her every bidding.   “Are you coming,” she said, with a tilt of her head And turned towards the open doors to the garden, Leaving me in confusion, should I follow Or stay, and forever know the pain of...

Added 08 Apr 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 6 | Avg Score 5 | Views 283 | 4 Comments

Each night beneath the kindly moon’s soft radiance We make again that joyful connection of love Vulnerable in our emotional nakedness As we bare the most profound feelings of our hearts All too soon the hour of parting is upon us Catching us unaware in our communion The whistle of the passing train is the sad signal That we must reluctantly say goodnight, sweet dreams Come away with me on...

Added 20 Apr 2017 | Category Poetry | Votes 7 | Avg Score 5 | Views 599 | 7 Comments