The spectral husband
watched his radiant new
muse unpack her life inside
his historic parlor.
He gently chilled the
summer air to wrap her in a
freezing, invisible embrace.
Her living spouse slept deeply,
entirely oblivious to the phantom
tracing her elegant silhouette.
With a cold, phantom kiss, he
gently stopped her beating heart
without a trace of pain.
Now, two ghosts dance beautifully
together through the walls, leaving
one confused widower behind.
I placed a rose on the seat of your chair
In your lap if you had been there
The warm winds soothe my tired face,
Softly as your hand’s warm embrace
My eyes close in thoughts of you
How we’d sit before the ocean’s view
In paired prayer for the day to never end
In paired prayer, thankful for such a friend
Then the day came prayer couldn't prevent
All good things end. Even angels heaven sent-
Need return to foster light in another’s dark life
I’m thankful for everyday an angel was my wife
Fierce p a n g s of loneliness grip grief-stricken Jerome;
The single-family house he resides in was once a home.
I loved you, once upon a time
and then you went away
and with no reason to the rhyme
it falls on me to say
to speak, create, and change what’s done
so I can be alright
and live today, until it’s done
and find you in the night.
So I imagine, through the fog,
you found your mom and dad,
your brother Michael, and your dog,
all the joy you had.
I imagine you have found
you never needed me.
What’s gone will always come around,
and now we both are free.
I’ll let you go, and fly away,
I’ll let my spirit rest.
I’ll spend no time on yesterday,
but try to live my best.
I may or may not shed a tear,
but not from guilt nor shame,
and all will wane each passing year,
each time I hear your name.
Goodbye my sweetheart, so long, love
you’ll always be a piece
of who I am, who I’ve become
and all which shall increase.
But you are happy now, and healed,
in your great afterlife.
No more sadness shall I feel,
because I’ll be alright.
*Image of Sunset River for Two by Pixabay.
AUDIO: Tip; Right-click on volume then click on Loop of the drop-down menu for continuous play.
The Widower and Wife: LIND30
Tear stained pillow dries in dawns light,
with his eyes wide-opened with delight,
an aliferous butterfly color-filled wingspan,
a smile had donned on a well informal man,
[LIND30WCR]
An egg fries and a toast buttered,
Mid-morning in the field, he stands,
The window curtain flaps in the wind,
He tipped his lid and toiled all day long.
[LIND30WCU]
Bathed, tidy up, cooked, eats feast,
two placed arrangement, routine,
a theme plays he knows by heart,
arms bout confirming the dark away,
[LIND30SU]
The widower goes to bed,
turned down and alone he spread,
he sleeps on its comforter,
and lulls to another night with her.
[LIND30SR]
2022 January 26
*1st Place*
A Poem Crafted In The Various Lind30 By Robert Lindley
~~Chantelle Anne Cooke: Judged 2022 February 25
*7,7,7,9 per section HMS, PSGC, PSSC
lightning strikes
leaves nothing but
the shell of him
in one fell swoop
the loss of her
too much to bear
AP: Honorable Mention 2021
If my mind's on Him
My mind's on the Lord
And my God then I won't have to fornicate nor sin
Celibate shall reign control my pants, my skin
This is a new beginning
Now my God supplies all of my needs
And He knows my heart
I am not,
Not conscious looking for a new wife
But if one of God's daughters come along onto my path
Maybe, maybe I will He knows my heart
For that I will, we she and I shall both be true
Until the day we say I do
Hallelu--
9/18/20
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2020
He can find the corners, follow the curves.
He counts the space of a pace.
Sometimes his dead wife will open a cupboard
or wardrobe door. A pale blue light shines,
as if the wardrobe or the cupboard
had opened a window in his mind.
He does not understand what this means,
but knows she will put his socks away
or find them.
while he sleeps.
She still fills her housecoats
on cold nights.
The cat will always be
the shadow of her hand.
He will dwell in this home
that she wove around his recliner,
scrimshawing each thought
with her presence.
He mourns, not at the cemetery,
but from the other side
of a double bed.
He rearranges nick-knacks
by not touching anything.
He does however
place some sepia moments
in a shoe box
she has provided.
He knows
how to see the dancing atoms
of invisibility, how
to look through unlit windows,
as if he were light gazing in.
Sometimes his deceased wife
will open a cupboard
or wardrobe door,
a faint light sheens
as if a window
had opened in his mind.
He doesn’t know what this means.
His hands seem guided
to find what must be found.
She puts worn socks
in the wash basket while he sleeps.
I'm engaged to God
And if I die now
Before that time
I would like to be wed
Married, again
To a Christian woman
If only it's meant to be
God would loan her to me
I'm one of a few men
Who truly believe in
God's way of marriage
You see in 2016 I lost my first wife
Never thought as we said our wedding vows
God would literally call her back home
A pastor told me "she's just was on loan"
Well yes I'm lonely but not alone
We were married for 40 years
It took two years after her dead
I said huh!! Lord I wonder if someone else
Would appreciate a imperfect man....
Yet grateful
ever faithful ('I'd be for a woman and to God)
Now I am not physically looking for another "WIFE"
But yet one prayer makes it right
If that curtain someone else were to be on loan
With or with out "I am still gonna praise the Lord"
this is my testimony of the alone yet not alone widower
5/23/19
Written James Edward Lee Sr.©2019
I was endeavored;
Espoused and married;
But alas now I'm widowed;
And I'm physically alone;
I told my Father;
I worship you alone;
As He's tells me I am alone but not alone;
Hevenly Father Grant Me Another So That I Can Worship You Alone--
At the time of my wife death
This is how I felt
Grieving for 2 years
Mourning so many tears;
Now that the pain settled;
And my heart's mellow;
And I'm physically alone;
Hevenly Father Grant Me Another So That I Can Worship You Alone--
And now that she is gone;
I've asked my Father for another;
And if I am worthy;
Maybe some one will;
Become my new instill;
For it's better to wed, than burn;
Given unto me please Lord another wife;
So that I may finish my life;
Given unto me please Lord another wife;
And as both of us together a new wife and I together;
I need to share me and another with the Lord;
As then together you and I can worship you (God) alone;
Her and I together shall worship you alone;
Heavenly Father Grant Me Another So That I Can Worship You Alone--
1/1/19
written by James Edward Lee Sr. 2019 ©
from the anthology "For the Joy of the Lord"
In our house, 'tis the season for football
Cheering our teams, jeering the ref's calls
But he's not the sort
To care about sports
So my hubby gets lonely every fall!
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