Love In a Far Off Place
In starry silence and deepest sleep,
I hold vivid memories and a treasured secret
close to my heart of a long ago summer love.
Ours, was a season carved from the sun's caress,
from a sun that never set (even when the moon shone bright).
I cherished the time I held your hand, my handsome stranger.
Every waking moment was blissful and fantasies in darkness
sweetened my slumber. Our love was daring and true
but was a story never meant to be told, not even to
the icy winds blowing through my winter nights.
With you, I was lustrous in youthful glow, plucked
like a flower in morning dew, and still hungry for life
with an adventurous spirit. I called you, your warm words,
and the wild heart within them, my second home.
I was entranced by your stare; each passion-kissed day
alone with you was tethered loosely to the next
perfect, steamy day. The summer's citrus sun sprayed
light upon perfumed petals in our garden of love.
I could have pulled away before autumn's chill
but yearned to be held captive by, to know intimately,
the shackles of your love until I could no longer breathe
or desire from you more than I could give of myself.
A girl became a woman when the ripe August moon
shared its silver beams of passion in that far off, exotic place.
Brilliant in mind, it seems like yesterday but was many years ago.
As quick as you stepped into my life, you were gone,
taking with you the sultry sun and late summer moon –
you were a stranger I knew too well but not well enough
to mourn. I’m older now, busy with responsibilities.
My skin, slightly weathered, is thicker. I carry the weight
of my mistakes on my back, and still, I stand tall.
I share my strength, my love, my embrace, but
I carry the secret of you closer to my heart as I age.
Our summer memories are a part of my dreams
and the source of many misty-eyed smiles in sunlight.
For Frank's Love In A Far Off Place Contest, 7/26/15
Copyright © Rhonda Johnson-Saunders | Year Posted 2015
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