That summer of 1969 in Venice still resonates within me...
A Slovak boy, Mario, and an Italian girl, Laura – fourteen and thirteen years old.
She had long chestnut hair and captivating eyes…
We sat on a bank by a bridge in the evening,
while illuminated boats floating on the lagoon.
The song Sotto le stelle, Beneath the Stars, played from a nearby bar.
I listened with amazement to that melodic speech, watching her charming gestures.
I didn't understand a word, yet I felt a blissful warmth in my heart...
Suddenly, heavy rain began to fall; Laura gave me a quick kiss on the cheek
and vanished under the arcade of a weathered building.
Just then, a shooting star fell...
I have carried the imprint of her lips in my heart all my life.
If Romeo and Juliet could meet
And mate enmasque a thousand years ago,
Then our short period of trick and treat
Could generate a love none would outgrow.
For we hid not behind a frightened mask,
Nor sought protection cleverly disguised;
With eager joy we warmed up to the task
And found ourselves most pleasantly surprised.
Discovery and moonlit interlude
Replaced by coffee bars and taxi rides;
No balcony to climb, no attitude
To change, our long-developed love abides.
The Bard wrote “star-crossed lovers” with his pen,
But we are not; let’s do it all again!
Love is not won by conquest,
But by love.
If you really love someone
Don't force her
To go against her nature.
It's by far a disaster.
Don't wait her speak first,
When she's most helpless.
She will be moved by compassion,
And anger later.
He who initiates love most
Receives the love he deserve.
Love shared by two
In war and peace,
Is the most epic of all
Ever written in a love story.
The love that knows no boundary set by clan;
The clans that know no love except for war;
The flower that dares to bloom, but never can;
This then the story Shakespeare told, in core.
And what the nature of a petty feud?
Where pride replaces peaceful, prosperous life;
Where little things as mountains are construed,
And things far greater die within its strife.
How might a lesser quill have writ the tale?
One family good, the other dripping ill;
The timeless lie, the righteous must prevail;
And happiness the final act to fill.
But not these things, you had much more to say:
And that is why we think of you today.
The emotions of Romeo & Juliet,
always bold from the start;
Blessed to feel so deeply,
no matter the distress;
Make no mistake the heart does suffer;
Simply breathing is barely living,
to think some are okay with that;
Barely touched and I moan,
tortured but at least I burn;
Make no mistake writers do suffer;
Being a magnet pulled to a soul
understanding why you give in
but can never give up;
This is more than a word conjured up;
Make no mistake the word ‘Love’,
could never describe it enough;
The swing for the fences nature
of Romeo and Juliet,
feeling too much to think of anything else;
Always a fire within their gut;
Make no mistake
star-crossed mirrors the passion of a poet;
Make no mistake there is nothing sweeter.
Such deep, impassioned, love
startles our mortal ways.
Could we possibly have that
same eternal love?
Flowing in our souls and blood,
and being blind, make light of it?
How blessed, how young, how
fortunate,lovers they!
To refuse on this fetid earth to stay.
And of poison did imbibe and hence
dance forever in a moonlit sky.,
Willing to live in eternity, together. oh!
Not a beautiful flower, nor a stunning
sunset, no!
Could keep them here, why, on this so
controlling a place!
Be still this night and you will hear their
enchanting and bubbling laughter..
It whispers in trees, eternally, day and
night, a fortnight and foreverafter.
Poem ~1~
February 14, 2024
"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
A pair of star cross'd lovers take their life,
Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife."
— Prologue, Romeo and Juliet
As teens, they were told you’re too young
Time passed and they both were married
Another vowed they were among
Lovers who stole hearts once buried
Time passed and they both were married
Like this might mend the wounds within
Lovers who stole hearts once buried
Bygones could tell of pain that’s been
Like this might mend the wounds within
Where battles left them so forlorn
Bygones could tell of pain that’s been
As they stayed in darkness to mourn
Where battles left them so forlorn
Star-crossed lovers - hear hearts breaking
As they stayed in darkness to mourn
The feelings felt were earthshaking
Star-crossed lovers - hear hearts breaking
Another vowed they were among
The feelings felt were earthshaking
As teens, they were told you’re too young
Like Romeo and Juliet
By Michelle Morris
21/11/2021
Like Romeo and Juliet,
we were warned;
Our love was like a fire
and we'd get burned.
Completely forbidden
by our feuding families;
Sometimes in life
love is seen as the enemy.
You were my Romeo,
and I was your Juliet;
Didn't want that story to repeat,
so we ran away instead.
Settled on a hillside
in a village far away;
No more feuding families
to have their say.
We had a family;
taught them love and grace;
Kindness to all life; all
empathy, no hate.
They grew up as diplomats
and changed the world;
So much more peace now
around our country's soil.
You stayed my Romeo,
and I was your Juliet;
We created new history
of love and light instead.
And as we grow older,
getting old and grey,
We still love each other,
since that first embrace.
© Michelle Morris, 2021
Romeo was hiding in an alley
And yet Juliet found him, by Golly
They made love with passion
Each with their blue mask on
(Then) died of COVID ~ a fitting finale
with a trembling hands
mentally armored for strength -
the death's love story
31.10.2022
Sun :) - A-L Andresen :)
Copyright © All Rights Reserved
howmanysyllables.com
5 - 7 - 5
I was warned about you lazy Montagues
Some Romeo you turned out to be!
You’re so flabby you can’t see your own shoes
Where for art thou? Watching sports on TV!
Enough, Juliet, you’ve turned into your mother
With your nagging, complaining, and ceaseless spending
All you Capulet women just hover and smother
How I yearn for Shakespeare’s grand ending!
10/13/22
Middle-aged crisis is one topic which William Shakespeare stayed away from.
That my mind flies
On the wings of Pegasus
O behold thy gentle sweetness
That brings notes of sweet charity
If one should find the shadow of warmth
It lies in your brilliant presence
The eons of time should mark such liberty
As to find your delightful willingness
Must it be I for kindling thy warmth
And create in it a world
Such that would live forever
In the ire of loves labor
For doth thou speak gently
Inspiring a bolt of heavens glory
In it I doth dwell
To find the flames of thy passion.
Call back the curtain, containing our kiss,
capturing young heartbeats with all their might.
Crease open the page; no line can I miss.
Within eternity, I reminisce
of the mystery of scenes I recite.
Call back the curtain, containing our kiss,
scarlet like lips lit with starlight's fierce gliss.
Capture twinkling eyes in wooing moonlight.
Crease open the page; no line can I miss.
Balsam cedarwood musk I can't dismiss,
pressed against my breast with, "Farewell, good night."
Call back the curtain, containing our kiss.
Without request of others' stark permiss,
retain vibrant props of charming delight.
Crease open the page; no line can I miss.
As ivy climbs pillars, I hold you tight,
oblivious to forthcoming abyss.
Call back the curtain, containing our kiss.
Crease open the page; no line can I miss.
8-4-22
~Romeo And Juliet~
Such deep, impassioned, love
startles our mortal ways.
Could we possibly have that
same eternal love?
Flowing in our souls and blood,
and being blind, make light of it?
How blessed, how young, how
fortunate, they!
To refuse on this fetid earth to stay.
Like new wine from the vine, they
still in sky tiptoe!
Willing to live in eternity, oh!
Not a beautiful flower, nor stunning sunset, no.
Could keep them here, this so earhtly,
temporal a place.
Be still, and you will hear their
laughter.
It whispers in trees, both day and
night, a fortnight and forever after.
This is a repost.
April 15, 2020
6:30pm PST
Two hearts hold
both with likened dignity
both capable of a love undying
both willing to die loving,
There they were
Romeo and his Juliet
what a love theirs was
one like a shooting star up the heavens
a kind of love that comes once in a long while
who is to follow,
the footsteps of this love story
who is to love with no fear nor doubt
volunteer to love and to hold
tight yet easy
to long for no one but their own
I dare my heart today,
I dare yours too
Oh so dearly
Two hearts hold
and create a storm
so strong yet easy at its core
There they are
Romeo and his Juliet
loving to their own death
a tale unlike any other.....
I dare my heart to live to feel
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