Her fingers tracing mine
Lily danced me out of the garden
those green eyes brimming lively
with purest abandon
Then barefoot on the boardwalk
her summer dress riding high
she leapt onto the jetty
and gestured to the sky
We let our tanned legs hang below
as we bottomed up the bottle
the air was hot and heavy
the sea around us peaceful
There was lust upon our minds
as a veil upon a bride
the deepest searing truths
politely shot between our eyes
And no man could deny us
loose and open all the time
our hands and fingers; wanderers
tongues locked in a rhyme
By the spit between those kisses
our burning lips were sewn
her dress was barely there
my body carved from stone
With each nail driven into skin
I felt a clapping thunder
the temple tapestry was tearing
as she pierced my thin armour
A melody sung upon her voice
a lyric loudly grows
I’d have gladly turned my back
on all that I held close
We could have traveled every sea
taking turns to lead the way
if only
if only she’d have asked me
if only I’d thought to stay…
Dusk light falling on the harbour
the day became a dream
with toes curled round the boards
she danced me to my feet
in one movement I was shirtless
in another she was naked
a smiling glance was shared
as we leapt with fingers knitted
Our kisses painted salty
lungs burning between breaths
the solution we had longed for
as our bodies coalesced
We swam until our limbs ached
then floated side by side
in the moonlit wideness of her eyes;
another world, I spied
I was so thirsty for the moment
and drank it all too quickly
my mind got blurred and cloudy
my greatest drunken folly
Too naive to know the value
of the treasure in my grip
like sand through careless fingers
I stood and watched it slip
There was water on three sides
and only one path back to land
but somewhere on that journey
I somehow lost her hand
Now, I wonder if she thinks of us
a moment spared for all we shared
does she ever sit upon that jetty
singing of a parallel despair
We could have traveled every sea
wild adventure every day
if only
if only she’d have asked me
if only I’d thought to stay
If only
I’d had the wisdom
to stay…
[2020]
Extra special thanks for reading, I know it’s a long one. 🙂
The Lighthouse 
Beautiful and evocative.
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Thank you so much Lucy. I wasn’t sure if anyone would make it to the end 🙂
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I hope that you plan to do more rhyme. I have a soft spot for it. This is amazing!
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Ah thank you Delia! I was worried no one was going to read this because of the length… so thanks for sticking with it. I’ll definitely try another one soon but it does NOT come naturally 🙂 Kudos to the rhymers.
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I don’t mind the length of poems. I could read or listen forever. Will you be doing spoken word of this?
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I like long ones but they have to hold your attention. I thought the rhyming might help with that. I will definitely record it one way or another – I’d love to set it to music somehow… I’ll see what I can muster!
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I’ve been using GarageBand to add the musical elements for my spoken word on my Patreon. I’m still learning how to use it but I like adding the elements. I’m wondering if there’s more I can download somewhere than the ones that come already loaded in the program? But if a poem is ever too long to read due to time constraints, I flag it for later. WP has a little flag button below the post so that you can find it easily. It’ll show up under your saved tab in the reader tab.
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I’d have thought there are more samples online somewhere… plus loads of rights-free audio samples. I tend to search Google for rights-free sound effects and download them and slot them in. Thanks for the tip about the flag, that’ll come in handy 🙂
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Achingly sad.
I loved it 🖤
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Thank you. Achingly Sad is definitely what I’d have called my autobiography if I’d written one about 10 years ago. Thankfully, times have changed a bit since then. 😀
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Brilliant title for an autobiography… I may still use it for my own 😉🖤
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Good work!
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Aww thank you Nick. Really appreciate you reading and commenting.
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Long, but beautiful and wistful.
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Thanks Peter, so kind. I have a soft spot for this one… I spent quite a few lockdown hours wrangling my story into rhyme back in 2020. Thanks for reading.
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