With a smile and all our love
We send this wish to you
This wish of Happy Birthday
And blessings all year through
For you our friend are dear to us
More dear than you can know
So here we are now - one and all -
To let our feelings show

You rouse our hearts and minds to see
Those with less than you 'n' me
To count our blessings; search our souls
And thank God we are free
To dare to dream; to spread our wings
Are all that you inspire
And so we fly above those clouds
Soaring high and higher

More gentle, kind and caring man
We would be hard to find
You lift us up and share your love
You are one of a kind
We love all that you do for us
So these wishes we send
May you have the happiest day
Happy Birthday, dear friend!

With generosity of time and care
He teaches her about the things he knows.
Such as a couplet is a rhyming pair
And how a sonnet ought to be composed.
Pentameter iambic is the key
With accents, syllables and scansion too.
It seems a huge and baffling mystery
But bit by bit he gives a hint. A clue.
“It helps to tap your fingers on the desk
To count the syllables and hear the beat.
For some this seems bizarre and quite grotesque
But listen hard and count along. It’s sweet!”
          A teacher true who cares for flawless rhyme
          I thank you friend for giving me your time.

Sliding from the silky, satin sheets
Slowly she saunters to the terrace
And scans the sparkling, star-sprinkled sky
  
As slender arms loosely clasp her svelte, ******* swathed silhouette
So too her thoughts encircle her sweetheart
  
She smiles as she recalls their tryst...
  
          His strong embrace holding her safe and secure
          Lips that tease with nearness
          At last bestowing passion-soaked kisses
          Whilst hands slide up to her soft, supple breast
          And trace circles around her sensitive, cerise *******
  
She is lost now
Caught in the exquisite snare of sinfully-sweet reminiscences
Of two lovers seeking to please
And thirsting to be satisfied...
  
          Slow, tantalizing caresses gracefully ****** their souls
          Hearts, minds and bodies of two lovers now aroused
          Suspended over the precipice
          Oh, yes, such blissful anticipation
          And then … surrender
          Surrender to sweet, sweet ecstasy!
  
As she stands now on the circumference of sensual abyss
She sways slightly
A soft breeze strokes her sun-kissed skin
It whispers to her spirit and begins to sing a song
A song so enticing
So stirring
That small goosebumps rise and glisten
  
So once more she slips betwixt silky, satin sheets

glistening, wet jewels
well in the camber of hazel eyes
like droplets
brimming on the tip
of a dewy green-brown leaf

resting but a moment
holding tight a promise

yet threatening to tumble
as the maelstrom
erupts
in eerie quietness
mutely twisting
whirling
spiraling downwards

then
without a whisper

and in the hush of aloneness

a shining bubble
spills

and bursts

On golden fields
your painting so vivid
vibrant
bespattered
far and wide
burgeoning with hope and cheer

and mine eyes behold

Your orchestra
performing
a beautiful golden-yellow symphony
trumpets trumpeting
powerful
intense
sometimes a little boastful
perhaps even narcissistic

and mine ears respect

Across your gilded seas
the bells toll
heralding new beginnings
composed
in unison
together
but not

wandering lonely
silently drowning in unrequited pleas

forever holding faith

and I, your witness

Tall, frightful, mountainous man
the fear you strike within is easy to explain
sheer size causes my heart to pound
so fast and loud that it is all I can do to contain
it from leaping outside my tiny frame

With whisker twitching and hide flinching
I crept from the safety of my hole, inching
one small step by paltry step
seeking meagre crumbs; mere scraps of food
to feed my hungry brood

And there I chanced upon you
(well, it was your dark and menacing shoe
that first caught my beady little eye)
then, fleetingly, thoughts I was about to die
stopped me in my tracks, and there was I,
wondering ~ should I fight or fly?

Yes, there I stood, frozen in time
and it seemed that you were too
as we, the two of us, both you and I,
for one moment (or was it two?)
took measure and looked each other in the eye

But I am not a silly fool
and though I am just an insignificant being
I have learned a golden rule ~
at the very instant a man moves his feet
it is time I must be fleeing!

in the hush of the moment
there is much to cherish --

a child at play
with his imaginary friend

a shimmering glimmer
in almond-brown eyes

the dance above town
of birds in flight --
rising
falling
crisscrossing the sky

a winter’s eve
and a hot, deep bath

candlelight flicker
the moon and the stars

a rainy day
spent snug in my bed

the sun that smiles
and kisses my head --
peaceful
soothing
my soul well fed

those sleepy eyes
from sweet dreams wake

a hug he gives
my day he makes

and you, my love
you fill my heart

the gift of you
my world thou art

I close my eyes
my prayers I send

in the hush of the moment
these things never ...

when poems die and all words dry on dusty
tongue    when eyes exhausted can no longer
see    when water's song is still and tired
rivers stop their run    when life's been zested
and no juice is left    when every day
is one thing after one more ******* thing
all it takes is one small drop of love
sent by a stranger, friend...perhaps a god