"One Kiss"

I could dive a thousand miles
In the deepest oceans known to man,
And never reach the instant depths
I have plunged within your eyes,
And then drowned, as you simply brushed my hand.

I could pluck a thousand blooms
From the rarest orchids ever grown,
And never sense a petal soft
As your lips in perfect bloom,
Simply put, the sweetest fragrance I have known.

I could watch a thousand willows
Swaying in the gentle summer breeze,
And never see grace so defined
As in your walk, your stance, your glance--
I, in awe, am stricken swiftly to my knees.

I could wait a thousand years
For another romance just like this,
And never find what stands here now;
So forgive my bold advance--
You're my chance, to rise again, with one kiss!
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"Death of a Suitor"

You hide from me in darkened chambers,
Exile self-induced, in fact,
Long removed from healing sunlight,
Every wound still fresh, intact.

I charge your gate, I slay your sentries,
Lovers old who lingered on.
Romantic corpses bar my entry?
My sword is swift, their heads are gone!

I stumble in your central hallway,
Your Royal Guard now blocks my way.
Each soldier is an apparition,
Fears that haunt you every day.

I battle on, I find a doorway
Leading to a tower wall.
Battle-weary, bleeding, pleading,
Up the stairs I, leaking, crawl.

Atop at last, I face your chambers,
And reach for your retracted hand.
Behind me up the steps they're coming--
Your mercenary demon band!

"Come fly with me, we'll mount this window,
Sail the skies while still we can".
"Save yourself, my valiant warrior--
My heart is already damned!"

I shout, "My God, dispell these demons!"
I lunge for you--the floor I meet.
The evil army overtakes me
And drags me to your guarded feet.

They rip my hair and snatch me backwards,
Scrape their blades across my throat.
"They work for you, my cautious lady--
One word condemns them to the moat".

"Release him now," you shout in anger!
"Dare they not, unless..." I say,
"You avow to disavow them,
Take my hand and fly away".

"I cannot do that," you say, weeping.
"Very well then, run me through--
My blood will stain a path for others
Tomorrow who will call on you".
_____________________

"Soul Travelers"

Severed by their births, spiritual identicals
Scour seas and earth, thrusting forth their tentacles,
Groping for an answer, unaware a counterpart,
As a perfect dancer, shares the same afflicted heart.

When they finally face, time and distance fade away.
What remains is place, where compelled to stop, they stay,
Evermore to bind their fates, nevermore as amputees--
Reunited soulmates, sanctified on bended knees!
______________________________

"Searching for Sara Mullins"

Slipping through these sleazy sidestreets,
Out onto her harlot's highway,
Sara Mullins tricks her spirit
Every single payday Friday.

So I'm told by those who've seen her,
This is where I'd likely find her.
Thirteen years of failing fortune,
Brings her here to snuff and bind her.

How could she, so fresh and fragrant,
Barely twenty, bathed in beauty,
End up here in rancid ruin?
Finding out why is my duty.

Yes, I loved her, though platonic,
Decades past--I never told her.
Now I pass the cars of those who
Weekly come to buy and hold her.

Dead ahead, Dear God I see her!
As she waves, I just drive faster.
In my mirror she curses at me,
Just another john who passed her.

Now I too cruise hell's own highway,
Not in search of whores and hookers,
But in quest of one lost dream--
Time and age and silence took her.
__________________________

"Fear of Falling"

Do not gaze into my eyes and blink,
For every time you do I sink
So remotely into you, I think
I shall not resurface from the brink,
Of sorrow...

Do not kiss me with those lips so sweet,
For every taste of you I eat
So fulfills me, I cannot repeat
Such a meal with others I may meet,
Tomorrow...

Do not suckle me with breasts of down,
Far softer than the others found,
In those days before you were around,
Feeding me with milk until I drown,
In reverence...

Do not wrap me in your legs and arms,
For should you choose to loose such charms,
I should not recover from the harm,
Rendered to my unsuspecting heart,
Forever...
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