Love in the Time of Corona

Writing love in the time of corona to forget her

When tall grass on the banks waves in the breeze,

Mourning doves flock over the bridge arch,

And cool rapids splash river boulders midstream,  

With enough percolation to defer any dreams

 

What good would it do to figure her out?

When under-span waterfall echoes reverb,

Drowning traffic noise tightening river belts

Around an odorless anchorage of evaporated urine

With enough older love to fasten my heart 

 

Not going to go where only her hormones know

With enough gnats to nourish swallows and bats

Through Taichung’s veins of throbbing blood 

As native girls smile at this alien male

With enough testosterone to make it move

 

When her thermals low-bridge my levitation

I swoop rhythmically like an egret’s wings

Through saturated skies on mountains amassed

The thunder that ripped through the love I found

Withstanding rain sheltering me from her pain

 

Her fascinating adornments melt like eye shadow

Resembling tears of misgivings in the spooky night

As she acquiesces in the fight against dependency  

I have already retreated to where she will not know me

On the shady riverside watching younger men fish  

 

June 17, 2020

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It is not good enough that the days rush by

It is not good enough that the days rush by,

Filling each void to keep busy,

Passing the days to draw you nearer.

What I want is you here with me now,

To feel the dream becoming real,

Out of my head and into the night,

With music’s swell enveloping us.

The dance of serendipity moving within.  

It is not good enough

For the time to fly

When it can burst through the speed of light

Into flames hard to contain,

Smoldering upon reaching your lips.

When time together slips through our hands,

Better to dream about you within every distraction,

See your smile in everything,

The ripeness of your eyes,

Your adorable glance of disbelief,

Tightening our coil until its release.

Nothing could be the same

After you whisper my name,

After we kiss and draw each other near;

That is what I fear.

June 8, 2020

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If blowing a kiss is still a kiss

If blowing a kiss is still a kiss

I have kissed your smiling face

That look in your eyes feels like bliss

Your lips give my dreams grace

You are more than a woman to me

More than a breath of morning dew

In tandem we go, riding the river

Two of us randomly making it through

Ever higher till the heights we reach

Responding to undeniable passion

Going forward towards our love

Offered weekly in two-hour rations

Avoiding the rain and the burning sun

We are clearly Goldilocks’ choice

Unbearably waiting for tomorrow’s meeting

I’m tuned in to your voice

Unable to forget you when at home

Without a lover left

Happiness you bring makes me want to sing

After you, only old age and death

So I see you when you find the time

Arrange my days to fit your style

Who am I to ask for more 

Than to know you for a little while

Let the torrents crash below us

On the bridge to the tunnel of love

As plum rains mist to summer storms 

We fit like velvet gloves

Forget what people say about autumn springs

We are strong enough to endure

Days brighten when we're face to face 

that is what love is for  

May 31, 2020

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Somewhere Under the Rainbow Bridge

Must I reassure her to be singing in the rain

With a glorious feeling; happy again?

What lies around the bend?

The point of no return?

Open roads off the map?

In cahoots with this dreamer

Or the nightmare of a poured out heart in repudiation?

Can I shake off this feeling of déjà vu

From long ago on a rainy Gold Mountain beach

When anyone but my first wife would do;

How I tried to woo her with encouragement

Missing kissing her as she turned away…

Will it be the scent of dried urine

Brought back from a puddle under the bridge?

When I look up to see a demon, smiling,

Waving at me mid-span,

Emptying a box of liquid into the river, 

Somewhere under the rainbow

As stray dogs' menacing barks echo;

The harbinger of disappointment …

But wait!

The pack is safely on the other shore!

With a stream so defined and direct between us

From a love to a lover, which is more?

What pleasures other than love can endure?

Game for the great exchange

Come rain or come shine

With shelter in a storm

Or rhapsody in the rain. 

May 18, 2020 
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She’s In For Her Second Chemo

Some ladies go for bingo,

To salt caves therapeutic,

Cryogenic chambers of liquid nitrogen,

Aromatic holiday spa with masseuse beautific,

My baby goes for chemo.

I go for bike rides up the riverside,

Laps in the pool, a sauna room,

Language exchanges, English strangers,

And meals that make me drool,

But my baby goes for chemo.

Some ladies go to roadhouses,

For men who go down slow,

But the cranberry concoction,

Drips relentlessly without passion,

Risking bad reaction.

I am without my babe at home,

Nowhere to go, to be alone,

Or place I'd rather roam,

Hoping her pain won't show,

As she recovers from the blow.

I will bring her back, fatten her up,

Hand her a cup, and shut myself up,

Mother’s Day chicken Masala with mushrooms,

French onion soup, zucchini Parmesan,

While the cats she loves play on.

It's a calm peaceful morning,

Blue clouds and soft cool breeze.

Roosters crowing, birds are singing,

Bobbie kitten on the patio besides me,

And bugs are my only camaraderie.

May 4, 2019
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My 28th Anniversary Sonnet

The river rushes overgrown with moisture undertow;

Birds don’t dare to fly in there,
A canopy so free winds wayward overblown;

Butterflies strain, lizards stare.

Mountains fall, both big and small;

Dusted leaves caked with debris rust my true eyes tearfully,
Through hidden skies appalled;

All that’s born and greets the dawn dies eventually.

It is not for me to witness thee or dare to ask at all;

Observe, recline, wake and dine never with a doubt,
I am only here to love you, dear, and stand until I fall;

What cannot change me anywhere without,

Crash and burn from marathon miles, not my fashion style,

I live to see the river shores from both sides of your smile.

April 7, 2019
edited June 30, 2019

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As Darkness' Brush Strokes Creamy Clouds

As darkness' brush strokes creamy clouds

And beckons me a chill reminder,

Are they passing over my life's dry socket? 

“It looks like a storm is coming.” 

I believe her and do not await the downpour

I beat it with the wind at my back 

to where the devil  has no home

Race against the tide of changing winds

No reason to hide but to begin 

(“Let me tell you 'bout a dream
You know I saw her in a dream

Oh, St. Charles sings
Sings about love
St. Charles, tell me tonight
Won't you tell me 'bout love
You know I saw her in a dream)

'Twould be worse than a wet-nurse

Milking a screaming storm

Squeezed from ominous southbound clouds 

Absorbed into the parched brick path

Darkening sunny ground by tropical trees

That feel the breeze and bend in respect

Rather than snap, forth and back.

Then she warned me and I return

Towards louder the beat of her heart

(“There was China, in her eyes
In a silk and velvet disguise
She was movin' like a lady
Lookin' like a dragon princess
She was walkin' by the river
Rollin' in a rhythm of love
I never felt like this before”)

She moves me and I move

No sense in staying to warn strangers

Of the danger in taking disinterested parts

Not in the interest of loving workers

I feel the temperature drop around the river

See the riders heading wrong upstream 

Donning their ponchos without a dream

Only she interests me

And I hurry home to be

(“Oh, St. Charles sings
Sings about love
St. Charles, tell me tonight
Won't you tell me 'bout love
You know I saw her in a dream.

She is the storm bringer,
The storm changer.”)

I will “Tie myself down to the main mast
Like Ulysses in the water storm
Winds comin' down the main line
Tie myself down to the main mast
Tie it down with love.”
I feel it, “stormin',” I feel it coming,
I can feel it now, “stormin'”
I feel it coming, “stormin'”
From the safety of our home. 

(Thank you, Jefferson Starship)

March 3, 2019

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Leaving Her

Low on energy, running out of time

To tell her what has been on your mind

You asked once so why say again

“Alright already,” she said to comply

As your mood slips swiftly by

Who else but a husband would try?

Is she there for herself at home?

Your bike balanced on an uphill ride 

Slowed by unseen pavement cracks 

Where flowers once sprouted after rain

Tires getting flat, without a phone or hat 

Without a song; not even that 

A new kitten while you were gone

Should have rejected it all along

For a fan to blow the exhaust
As the wind of changes grow

Smoke from a shopping channel frying pan

A self-extinguished glow

When half-truths sound like lies

Passionless untouched desire

No need to pity her condition

Because pleasing her is your pleasure

Everything you would do expires

Your service is no longer required

You made her happy, didn't you? 

No role model were you for her to mimic

You thought, unprompted, she would be kind

Stop for you upon a dime

Every whim, unashamed

She should want to do the same

Chances get slimmer for you to be heard

Speaking for you, misinterpreted

Of her interests, you're an intersession

Are you on her mind or 

Is she pocketing your point-of-view

Like a ghost does in a cask of witches’ brew?

May she take your advice without calling it hers

May she be nice without doing you a favor

Aim to please you for your labor

All the love you've grown to share

Not treat you like a child, carefully

Or ignore you pain-in-the assfully

You are going to leave her one day 

That woman gambling on your rambling

Without a dollar or a song

One day you will be moving on

Where the weather suits your soul

And nothing warm turns cold

December 23, 2018
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Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.