Daniel Henry Rodgers | + Follow Poet |
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Where the Ocean Meets the Mountain

You, Mariana—deepest trench of my knowing  
   I call you by name not to possess it
but because it is the only prayer  
   I have ever known how to say  

You are the sea—each wave not an argument but a hymn  
   a hymn without end  
   a hymn that the gulls carry in their throats  
splitting the sky into syllables of salt and longing  

I am the mountain—Marcus  
   peaks jagged, stubborn and proud  
but even granite shifts at your touch  
   I have watched falcons trace the arc of your tides  
wings trembling as if even they  
could feel your gravity  

I am no prophet, Mariana  
but let me tell you what I know  

   before the first wave kissed the first shore  
   before hydrogen took shape in the dark  
   before God divided waters  from land  

we were—  
    not as we are now, flesh and bone, tide and stone—  
    but as the thought of love itself  
    waiting to be spoken into existence  

And then we were born  
carried on the wings of albatrosses  
the first explorers of an empty earth  
I, the cliff that held the sky 
You, the current that shaped continents  

Do you see now  
   your waters carved the ridges of my spine  
   your waves taught my canyons their depth  
even the hawk circling above us  
owes his flight to the winds you stirred  

I’ve spent years dissecting the mechanisms of us  
   through lenses 
   through prayers   
   through equations that collapse under your gaze  

What are the odds, I ask,  
that quarks and gravity conspired to create a you  
and then, further still, that a me  
would stumble into your tidepool one April morning  

Even the kestrels tilted their wings at my calculations  
The universe is not random, Mariana  
   it is intention
   it is you  

I remember the first time I mapped your voice  
a current through my ribcage  
that left me gasping for a language I did not yet know  

You spoke of Neruda, of Rumi  
and I, the scientist,
could only stammer in monosyllables  
unprepared for the poetry of your existence  

Your laugh, Mariana was a theory proven true  
a sound so radiant the terns mistook it for the sun  
and flew toward it instead

I’ve studied every treatise on love—  
Plato’s Symposium, Aquinas’ Summa,
Solomon’s love song—   
but none of them explain  
how your hands—small continents of motion—  
can anchor me mid-storm  

Your touch 
   is storge, the familiar warmth of home  
   It is philia, the friendship that steadies the ground beneath me 
   It is eros, the pull of moon to tide  
a force no textbook can quantify  

And
   It is agape, the unreasoned grace  
that binds us beyond logic  

Do you know, Mariana  
even the ocean dreams of the mountains  
not from duty  
but from longing for the peaks it will never touch  

And I—rooted in earth, fixed to equations—  
have spent a lifetime envying your fluidity  
your capacity to change  
without losing yourself  

The pelicans, your sentinels skim the surface of you  
while my larks anchor themselves to the grasses,  
their songs rising—straining—to meet your gulls mid-flight  

But here is the secret you have taught me—  
   Even the mountain must surrender to the sea
   Even the eagle must land  
   Even the scientist must kneel  
before the mystery he cannot solve  

Mariana, I have worshipped you 
In ways both ancient and modern  
   I have written sonnets to your shoreline  
   calculated the chemistry of your tears  
   and prayed to the God who made you—  
a God who, in His infinite wisdom 
crafted you as ocean and me as mountain  
so we might spend eternity  
teaching each other how to change  

The gulls and hawks, caught in the thermals of our love  
circle above us  
    They are our witnesses  

Tell me, my love—  
what is the measure of a life together  

Is it the years we’ve gathered 
or the moments that stretch beyond time  

Is it the laughter
rippling like wind through a wheatfield  
or the stillness 
that settles like mist on the sea  

I do not know  
I only know that you are my map and my compass  
   my kestrel and my tern  
   my equation and my proof  
   my prayer and its answer  

And if I, Marcus, am earth—  
then let me erode for you  
Let my peaks crumble into sand  
to join your waves  
Let me be reshaped by your love  
until we are neither tide nor stone  
but the horizon itself—  
    infinite  
    indivisible  
    whole

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Regina Mcintosh Date: 3/23/2025 12:23:00 AM This is truly amazing, a poem worthy of fame and fortune, undying devotion to the beauty, the grace within these lines is stunning to say the least. A joy to read. Much love and God bless you always, Gina Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 3/24/2025 7:51:00 AM Dear Gina, I was so happy reading your note this morning and yes God has blessed me with the love of my life, 3 daughters, 3 and soon to be 5 granddaughters. Thank you and I am so grateful. Spring Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

CayCay Jennings Date: 3/15/2025 9:20:00 PM I can't comment right now. Your poem has left me speechless and I'm pretty sure my mouth is hanging open. I am literally, with my entirety, still absorbing the emotions your poem rose in me. How I love it when a poem does this to me, it is what, to me, poetry should ideally do on some level. Oh, my ... CayCay Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 3/17/2025 7:04:00 AM Dear CayCay, I think you are becoming one of my best friends and I am so thankful for your comments. I think I have a lot of inspiration from our Lord and a lot from my amazing wife. Thank you!! Spring Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Crystol Woods Date: 3/14/2025 5:08:00 AM Just wow. This is top shelf poetry my friend! I'm so impressed that I'm practically speechless! This wins every contest, earns every award, and will stand the test of time. I love the personification, imagery, and rhythm of this lyric! It's so fresh! Xoxo(Another fav!) Login to Reply Crystol Woods Date: 3/15/2025 9:06:00 AM Thank you! I'm posting now... my fb is Crystol Woods, yes, in wv. I'll try to find you and send a friend request. Xo Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 3/14/2025 10:50:00 AM Dear Crystol, I am speechless after reading your wonderful inspiring comments. You lifted my spirit over the mountain tops and thank you for that!! You are more than welcome to post my poem on FB and you are also welcome to use this picture or any other you deem appropriate. Does your FB go by your full name? I am on cloud 9 and I thank you. Spring Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel Crystol Woods Date: 3/14/2025 5:10:00 AM May I post this poem on my fb page? With your name as author of course...

Duke Beaufort Date: 3/13/2025 4:15:00 PM Daniel, your epic poem gives us much to consider about who we are and how we relate to each other. Love is certainly a profound feeling. I believe that I, like you, focus on my partner and constantly look for what is there for me and what I have for her. Your choice of mount and sea are profound. How we mix together is something I could think about for much time. It does tend to help focus on what is actually important and within our control in our family life. Smiles!! Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 3/14/2025 10:46:00 AM Hello Duke, You have said it so eloquently that love is a profound feeling and that our partners in life are the greatest of all our gifts here on earth. When I composed this poem, I had to think about how our partners are so different from us and yet are a critical part of our existance, happiness, and creators of life through our children. Without my wife and I, my daughters do not exist, and therefore our grandchildren don't exist and so forth. Life is amazing from so many different layers! Thank you as always for being a wonderful friend. Spring Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Regina Elliott Date: 3/8/2025 7:09:00 AM Wow, Daniel, such a stunning oceanic tribute beauty of a poem. Such magnificence. Have a lovely weekend my friend with your family. The good Lord's blessings always. ~ Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 3/14/2025 10:41:00 AM Dear Regina, Thanks for your most lovely comments and I am so grateful. My wife has been such an inspiration to everything that I do and given me unconditional love that it the only way I can truly describe it is through a poem. Thank You!! Spring Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Kai Michael Neumann Date: 3/7/2025 2:23:00 AM This is unbelievably profound and beautiful. An ode to love. Kind wishes, Kai Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 3/7/2025 8:09:00 AM Dear Kai, Thank you. My wife has always inspired me in my love poems. I am always grateful for your visits! Spring Blessings, My Friend, Daniel

I Am Anaya Date: 2/28/2025 9:04:00 PM ...the tide of love washes upon the rocky shore into the cove and sprays their perennial irrepressible essence and intent, like La Bufadora, steamy magma gushes... Your quote inspired this, me, Daniel. An ancient love eternal. You are blessed! Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 3/3/2025 9:04:00 AM Dear Anaya, I am filled with joy to read your third posting to my poems. I wanted to take the two major aspects of our earth land and water and turn it into a love story that is filled with life, history, adoration and eternal life together. Thank you for being such a great friend! Spring Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Valsa George Date: 2/25/2025 10:51:00 PM What a wonderful poet you are, dear Daniel. So enviable! This eternal love song between Mariana and Marcus has the depth of an ocean and the might and height of a mountain. How beautifully and powerfully you have exemplified the love between you and your beloved...."It is philia, the friendship that steadies the ground beneath me It is eros, the pull of moon to tide a force no textbook can quantify And It is agape, the unreasoned grace that binds us beyond logic" . Here no logic prevails, but just love. Pure love is the foundation of all connections. ... the one which persuades one 'to erode' himself for the other to make both lives sweeter. It seeks nothing in return, yet ready to give anything. How fortunate is your 'Mariana'! This will make every woman envy her. Into my FAVE. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/26/2025 5:07:00 AM Dear Valsa, Your words touch me deeply. I'm grateful for your insightful analysis of the poem, especially how you've recognized the interplay of philia, eros, and agape in depicting the love between Mariana and Marcus. Thank you for your generous praise and for adding this piece to your favorites. Your support means the world to me. Winter Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Maria Williams Date: 2/25/2025 8:45:00 PM Dearest Daniel, your poem is a deep and passionate declaration of love,using the metaphor of Mariana as the ocean and Marcus as the mountain. Both so drawn to each other. Your wonderful descriptive poem suggests that true love is not about possession but about surrender, growth, and an unbreakable bond. A truly stunning piece that lingers in the heart. Hugs Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/26/2025 5:04:00 AM Dearest Maria, Thank you for your beautiful insights into my poem. I'm touched by how you've captured the essence of love as surrender, growth, and an unbreakable bond between Mariana and Marcus. I'm grateful for your thoughtful reflection. Winter Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Benjamin Bartley Date: 2/25/2025 4:42:00 PM Amazing love poem. I read the others' comments, and I concur with them whole heartedly. Thanks for sharing! Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/26/2025 5:02:00 AM Hello Benjamin, Thank you for your kind and thoughtful comments. I am very appreciative of your visit! Winter Blessings, My Friend, Daniel

David Crandall Date: 2/25/2025 4:29:00 PM Great personification of of the mountain and ocean, Daniel! Amazing that the quarks conspired to create all this! Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/26/2025 5:01:00 AM Hello David, It truly is amazing that quarks somehow made this all happen. LOL! Thank you for stopping by and leaving your wonderful note. Winter Blessings, My Friend, Daniel

Sara Kendrick Date: 2/25/2025 4:22:00 PM Creative and descriptive lines you have penned in this one. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas with us. Sara K Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/26/2025 4:52:00 AM Dear Sara, thank you so much for stopping over and reading my latest love poem. I am always grateful and thankful for your comments. Winter Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Laura Breidenthal Date: 2/25/2025 1:03:00 PM “deepest trench of my knowing” - come on man! This is absolutely breathtaking, Daniel. Also loved the lines “a hymn that the gulls carry in their throats splitting the sky into syllables of salt and longing” - you’ve written this gorgeous confession of multifaceted love into existence—brilliant from start to finish. Always, Laura Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/26/2025 4:57:00 AM Dear Laura, Thank you so much for your heartfelt and thoughtful comments on my poem! Your words mean the world to me, and I'm truly touched by your enthusiasm. Your support and encouragement are invaluable to me, and I'm grateful for our friendship. Winter Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Paige Hind Date: 2/25/2025 11:21:00 AM Breathtaking diction, just breathtaking!!! I love the beauty of your metaphors, powerful and haunting. A fav for me!! Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/26/2025 4:53:00 AM Dear Paige, how wonderful seeing your comments this morning and I am very appreciative and you made my day by making it a FAV. Winter Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Shadow Hamilton Date: 2/25/2025 9:51:00 AM What a lovely song of love you have written Daniel it is everything that shines with love kudos my dear friend hugs Shadow Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/26/2025 4:51:00 AM Dear Shadow, again it is great having you back. I so appreciative of your comments and thankful for your support. Winter Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Victor Buhagiar Date: 2/25/2025 9:05:00 AM I read your poem and I'm speechless in wonder. You know Greek ideas about love well. Your allusions to such a romantic poem is magnificent. Should receive a POTD. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/26/2025 4:50:00 AM Dear Victor, Thank you for you for your awesome comments. I learned a lot reading C.S. Lewis who wrote the book 4 Loves. I also believe that Bible speaks to each of these loves. Have a great rest of the week! Winter Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Zyrool Gifford Date: 2/25/2025 6:49:00 AM Hello Daniel, this is a superb piece, so full of love. I was blown away with the ending, loved it. Have a great rest of the week my friend. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/25/2025 8:07:00 AM Hello Zyrool, Thank you so much for your appreciative comments that filled my spirit. Winter Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Kim Rodrigues Date: 2/25/2025 6:17:00 AM The universe is not random, Mariana it is intention it is you… but none of them explain how your hands—small continents of motion— can anchor me mid-storm… what a poet you are, dear Daniel, and though every husband is not, you capture the essence of spousal love! Fave!!!! Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/25/2025 8:06:00 AM Dear Kim, I am so grateful and appreciative of your inspiring comments. I used the 4 Loves from C.S. Lewis's book of the same title to integrate Christian Love. Eros, Phila, Storge, Agape, which really describe how love should be as a blend. I am always thankful for your words. Winter Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Kim Rodrigues Date: 2/25/2025 6:16:00 AM About your quote: Eternally love is shaped, ideally in marriage, more ideal with the bride of Christ. … we were— not as we are now, flesh and bone, tide and stone— but as the thought of love itself waiting to be spoken into existence. Login to Reply

Anne-Lise Andresen Date: 2/25/2025 6:00:00 AM - A romantic song with sonnets in the shoreline, Daniel :) - My daily walk along the shoreline today was filled with seagull cries and furious waves :) - hugs Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/25/2025 8:02:00 AM Dear Anne-Lise, I am glad that you had a great walk along the shoreline with our seagulls! Thank you for your most grateful comments and support. Winter Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Lin Lane Date: 2/24/2025 3:37:00 PM And so was written the love story of Mariana and Marcus. From his great height and her fathomless depth, I envy the power that exists between them with a salty tear I shed from his cliff and onto the crest of her waves. Such is the relationship I’ve always imagined between the sun and moon. Your poetry touches the heart of a romantic, Daniel. Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/25/2025 8:00:00 AM Dear Lin, when I was determining what metaphors I wanted to relate in this poem, I thought about the Sun and the Moon but I kept thinking about Neil Diamond's song Play Me. "You are the Sun, I am the Moon, You are the Words, I am the Tune." I thought to use something different that is not normally compared to love, such as Mountains to Oceans. Thank you for your uplifting words. Winter Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel

Tom Woody Date: 2/24/2025 12:27:00 PM Sigh. I could only dream of writing a love poem such as this. I'm guessing the ladies will swoon. Kudos for this masterpiece dedicated to eternal love Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/25/2025 7:56:00 AM Hello Tom, Isn't it wonderful to have our wives who model many of our love poems. When I let my wife read some of them, she says that I elevate her too high sometimes but I say that is what poetic love does—it lifts the one you love and adore. Thanks for your amazing support! Winter Blessings, My Friend, Daniel

Tom Cunningham Date: 2/24/2025 12:17:00 PM Beautifully written romantic verse Daniel, it's love that keeps our inner fires burning. Tom Login to Reply Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 2/25/2025 7:54:00 AM Hello Tom, Thank you for your wonderful words of support. I hope you are enjoying our winter. Winter Blessings, My Friend, Daniel