As long as the wind blows,
As long as the birds fly,
Mine own affection for you only expands.
Hero gave everything for Leander.
I’m not sure if sacrifice is what life’s about,
But if it is, I’d give all my blood and breath for you.
To me, you are the world.
You are life itself.
There’s nothing more than you.
No matter what it takes,
Like Psyche, I’d face every trial,
Just to have you, not just for a moment, but for life.
I’d take the pain with the joy,
Walk barefoot over thorns,
If it means I’d truly be yours.
For love is immortal, even when we are not;
Let me be yours, for I’ve already surrendered—
Singing my devotion until my final breath.
As I write the final chapter of our love story,
I pray you’ll be my Odysseus,
For I’d spend a lifetime waiting, even for just a moment to be yours.
Leander, my teen-friend in Kalentong
So handsome and so white.
One time, we crossed the bridge of neverlong
Far away from Planetarium with kite.
We saw a painting on a high concrete wall...
He said, "Spoliarium, too big and too tall!"
I said, "No. It looks like one in our school auditorium."
When we turned around, we are already in a polyandrium.
Then we ran.
Fourth-grader, Leander had his hands down his pants.
Sitting on the rug, doing what people do but usually, in their sleep.
His young teacher said, "“Leander, please put your hands in the air!”
He said “I have to itch my junk.”
I smiled when she told me this. “What did you say?”
“I didn’t say anything. I don’t have junk, so I kept quiet.”
Legendary lovers lay low,
Lurking longingly like lorikeets,
Languishing beneath a clump of larches,
Lena flirting with Leander
Lunching on lotus flowers,
Lost bearings to all.
Liquored up into a dual lullaby
Listening to a lay from Lake Lethe,
Eyes lit in lambent love.
Luck lifted their luminousness.
Greek Lord livid at their love
Lashed lightning
And locked them both out
Love flickered into oblivion.
Placed 1
11 December 2020
Alliteration Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Eve Roper
Sweet you look in warm rain
Peeling the soil for chocolate chains
Recalling Vincent van Gogh
Inklings of green mailbox
Nestling molecules of paradise
Greeting us in the melting ice
In the flute of your green wood
Soft Grosbeak in the neighborhood
Comely you look
Oomph in your brook
Mystic whisper in the air on your moonflowers
Images of dreamy hours
Nectarous noise in our hemoglobin
Green and pink touches you offer umpteen
Shadows of your strawberry stories
Oleander glories
Open the boat’s door
No more desolation, quick pulse of footfall in the silken shore
___________________________________________________
19 March, 2017
Leander Skumfeldt
1864-1916
Truly my friends
Dying was my greatest fear, while alive.
My most dreaded
Most detested of future experiences.
Dying, finally, was my greatest achievement
My greatest joy!
My highest calling!
The summit of my scant human existence!
Old Whittier town,
I have missed you indeed,
Have missed the bumpy rides by wagon and horse
To Los Coyotes,
Have missed the starry nights of suave embraces
In Sycamore Canyon.
With eyes wide open
I saw the irony of my life,
There, on a long table at Pio Pico.
There, amidst the old pottery and the sombreros
A single pressed morning glory
From the Spanish Bible of The Don,
A single fragile fading flower,
A metaphor for a sad but ecstatic soul,
My somber sullen soaring soul!
Be it known: I lived my life quietly
In the fear of God, and
I died my death screaming curses to his face!
But, truly my friends, truly
I found brazen beauty
Found unimagined enticings
In the final gasping exhalation
Of my last heartbeat.
N ature sings, and
A pril sweetly breathes life to
T ender buds on trees. . . and from
I nside the fertile womb
O f earth,
N ew seedlings' heads emerge,
A wakened by their mother's song, nourished by the sun of
L uminous blue skies and by the season's showers.
P oets too join in, composing
O des as overtures to Spring.
E latedly. . . . enchantingly,
T hey conjure imagery by
R aining words resounding with the essence of refulgence
Y earned for in Winter's icy depths.
M elancholy flees before the scent of
O leander blooms and lilac sprigs.
N othing quite inspires like this wonderful yet
T ransitory time that poets'
H earts and souls respond to, echoing Mother Earth in rhyme!
For the APRIL 2017 PREMIER CONTEST any form- theme max of 25 lines Contest of Brian Strand
Father protect me, for I am Your child
My love for You is great and my feelings aren't mild
I know I do wrong and I apologize
Nothing that I do is unseen by Your eyes
Satan is my enemy and he tries to get me everyday
But I know,Father, You won't let him have his way
I am but a man who diligently seeks Your face
Your love, tender mercy, guidance, and grace
Lord please help me in trials and tribulations
For You are the Ruler of the world and Father of the nations
Everything is determined by Your Holy Word
All are Your subjects, man, creature, and bird
In You, O Lord, I put my trust
I am but a man, whom You created from the dust
Save me God in a troublesome time
I know through You victory is mine
Unto You, My Lord, I cast my burdens
Until I find Your face, I will keep on searching
Lakedrick
LeAnder
Graham
I love You Lord with all my heart, body, and soul
You are my Savior and You are in control
My mind, O Lord, belongs to You
I want to live how You would have me to
I place my life in Your hands
Watch over me, for I am but a man
Whom You created from the dust
So please protect me from worldly lusts
I will serve You God with no fear
Give me eyes to see and ears to hear
I glory in trials and tribulation
In You My Lord is my expectation
I will meditate on Your word day and night
Because You, Heavenly Father, are my Guiding Light
So here's my heart and here's my love
Watch over me from heaven up above
I will live according to Your word from day to day
In Jesus Christ of Nazareth's name I pray
Thank You Lord for my life and health
I will always put You before myself
You are my Father and Best Friend
I will serve You God until the end
Lakedrick
LeAnder
Graham
Leander loved Hero, who lived on the opposite side of the strait, and would swim to her each
night, but was drowned in a tempest. Hero in despair cast herself into the sea.*
What body this asea all vision past
This hallow'd temple bobbing half-between?
What vengeful God has sheath'd fond Hero's light
Commanding tempest fingers long and lean?
To wake no more no more to pad the fields
Of hyacinth on fair Abydos' shore;
Is truth deep gone asparay in jet-black waves
Which buoy the spirit on no more no more
What figure this at peace which calmly drounds
While all around the shrieking bedlam raves?
What zealous spectral God does rage above
Disturbing not the silence of the grave?
*Bullfinch Mythology
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