21 Poems for Love, Weddings, and Anniversaries
By
Lenny Everson
rev
3 (minor corrections)
Copyright
Lenny Everson 2011
For Dianne
Smashwords Edition License Notes:
This free ebook may be copied, distributed, reposted, reprinted and shared, provided it appears in its entirety without alteration, and the reader is not charged to access it.
Cover design by Lenny Everson
Published at Smashwords:
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.
****
Note About the Poems
Last year I discovered that people were using some of my poems at their weddings, so I've created this little book for such poems. They range from the sweet to the odd to the gothic.
For a couple of these poems, I offer more than one version.
Often, if you want to use a poem to read to a couple on their anniversary, you can substitute “you” for “us and “we” in a poem. “I’ve done this in Edge of Our/Your Dream as an example.
If you print the poem, note somewhere that it was written by Lenny Everson. If you adapt it, say "from a poem by Lenny Everson".
Lenny
***
List of Poems
- And in the night
- Come and
spend this night with me
- Come and Share the World
- A Wish
-
The Blessing
- Anniversary
- Flotsam
- Edge of our Dream
-
Edge of Your Dream
- For All the Lovers
- Anniversary Poem 2
-
Dare
- Time and Love
- Morning
- The Chase
- I longed for
you
- Bachelor’s Card
- The Nets of Time
- Written on the
Subway Walls
- We the damned of Earth grow wild
- The Rose
-
Unfinished Poem
***
And in the night
And, in the night
When two hands
meet
There will be
Four truths
One will be love
One will be
dreams
One will be the end
Of loneliness
For the last
There are no
words
Only a warmth
Kept by lovers
Over the years
In
those nights
When two hands meet.
***
Come and Spend This Night With Me
Come and spend this night with
me
There’s ashes on the wind
And in the endless dark we’ll
find
Where love and time begin
Come and spent the night with
me
We’ll listen to the dark
Beneath the vault of endless
sky
For you are flame, I am spark
You are flame, I am spark
And in
the velvet night
In torch and touch and sudden flame
To find,
then hold on tight.
***
Come and Share the World
Come and share this world with
me
The night is full of fears
And on tomorrow’s trails, we’ll
place
Our footprints on the years
Come and share the night with
me
Warmth on warmth in dark
And when the wind shakes the
skies
You’ll be fire, I’ll be spark
You be fire, I’ll be spark
Against
the fears of night
In reach and touch and sudden flame
Enfold,
then hold on tight.
***
A Wish
May your days be gentle
The
sunlight on your sleeves;
May the wind be light enough
To
barely tremble leaves
May the future find you
In the
places you desire
May the evenings find you
Sitting by a fire
And when the morning sun
Makes
diamonds of the dew
May your day begin with
A simple “I love
you”
When those years all take you
To
where you want to be
May your hearts be singing
Wild and brave
and free
May there be laughter
In your
life and in your heart;
Welcome to the turning point
Where your
new lives start.
***
The Blessing
The days go by
The highways
bend
God powers a world
With no known end
He scans the Earth
Sees us,
smiles
As we happen on
His chosen miles.
***
Anniversary
If someone asks, “Did they truly
live?”
Say they took their lives
To the edge of their dreams
Say they knew what the morning
was
The light through the curtain
A promise shining through the
windows.
Say they came to each of life’s
curves
With anticipation
Almost greed.
Someday, if someone asks, “Did
they truly live?”
Say there were some days
In their time
together
That made their lives a poem.
***
Flotsam
Ah, love, we are bubbles
In the
flotsam of time
Part of life’s river
Part of life’s rhyme
Yesterday is dust
The morning is
gold
So many tomorrows
Before we grow old
The sunlight is singing
Some wild
hero’s song
Take my hand while
The evenings grow long
Ah, love, we’re a couplet
In
the epic of time
Let us follow life’s rivers
To the end of
our rhyme
Life’s dreams and life’s rivers
To the end of our
rhyme.
***
Edge of our Dream
In the moment of truth
In the
deep shifts of time
Is a good-bye to yesterday
Is a hymn to
tomorrow
In the long pull of midnight
In
the slow swing of stars
Is the wind in the willows
Singing our
song
In the glass vaults of
possibility
In the fragile winds of memory
In the rhythm of
lovers together
We stand, transfixed, in the rain
Don’t blame us for seeing
Farther
than we’ve ever seen
Love is the precipice of a small
eternity
Marriage is the edge of a dream
***
Edge of Your Dream
In the moment of truth
In the
deep shifts of time
Is a good-bye to yesterday
Is a hymn to
tomorrow
In the long pull of midnight
In
the slow swing of stars
Is the wind in the willows
Singing your
song
In the glass vaults of
possibility
In the fragile winds of memory
In the rhythm of
lovers together
You stand, transfixed, in the rain
We don’t blame you for
seeing
Farther than you’ve ever seen
Love is the precipice of
a small eternity
Marriage is the edge of a dream.
***
For All the Lovers
For all the lovers that ever were
I
read this poem
For all those who ever saw dreams
In another’s
eyes
I say these words
Now it seems I spent my
life
Pretending to be me
For too many years
I fooled only
those
Who don’t know me
When eyes meet eyes
And hand
grips hand
A world begins to tumble
And now it’s
downstream
All the way
All the way to heaven.
***
Anniversary Poem 2
Ah, love, could we find but one
Of
all the dreams we lost
Would we pick it up again
Regardless of
the cost?
Would we trade those younger
days
For what we missed back then
Would we take a different
pathway, Love
Or do it all again?
Almost asleep on my arm]
At the
ending of the day
You touch the question carefully
And smile,
as if to say:
"It doesn’t matter how rough
the route
When you’ve finally found some peace
Sometimes the
shelter matters most
And the passage matters least."
***
Dare
And now I think of distances
With
time enough to share
Although words make promises
I would
rather take you there
I’ll show you where the river
bends
Beyond a hill or two
I’ll bind love’s azure line
This
moment, me, and you
We can learn the distances
A
lifetime yet to share
We can search the mystery
Come – if you
dare!
***
Time and Love
The measured heart
Of the planet
beats
Time is a tide
That never retreats
On burning days
Or beneath the
moon
This world turns
Too slow, too soon
I am a son
Of the very last
day
For you I threw
It all away
You’re a daughter
Of solid
rock
Immune to time
And the rule of clock
May our love be shameless
In wind
and light
As we ride together
Against the night.
***
Morning
In the tearing of the morn
In the
silence by the lake
In the silvering of clouds
Are the risks
that lovers take
Give me your hand
Love is deeper
than the sky
It shares the songs we dare to sing
For we are
lovers, you and I
Alligators on the shores
Goldfish
in the weeds
Dark blue the center deeps
That speak two lovers’
needs
Oh, we take chances in the
thunder
And laugh beneath that sky
We mock the cold, the still,
the dark
For we are lovers, you and I.
***
The Chase
We chased our growing love
along
Roads
And weekends
Among friends
And through
Warm
evenings.
We chased dreams where
There were
dreams, and the wind
Where there were none
As if we cared for
anything
But love.
We are not the first lovers
This
world has known
But we have grown smiles
Like the trees do
leaves
We have laughed in the rain
And taught the sun
To
sing our song.
Now, every morning will be
A new
morning, and
Every day will be
The start of a new road
That
we will walk
Together.
***
I longed for you
I longed for you
Among pastures
turned to gold
And where the tumbling hours
Measured summer
growing old
I whispered your name
In the
lengthening of day
In the heat of afternoons
With thunder on
the way
But Earth is wise
And knows the
ways
And those in love find
That patience sometimes pays
For the rolling Earth, like me
Is
molten at its heart
And what is welded with such heat
Cannot be
torn apart.
***
Bachelor’s Card
I tried to pretend
It was a great
deal
That I burned my bachelor’s card
The one with Freedom
Written on the front
But I suspect you know
It had
lonely
Written on the back, and that
Was next to my heart.
***
The Nets of Time
The nets of time spin wild and
high
Against the dark, against the sky
This gold today
Is
dragged away
And restless sleep my love and I
The nets of time spin wild, spin
free
The golden fish are captured, we
Night, night
Lock
tight
Full of dreams, my love and me
The midnight laughter of the
stars
Is full of locks, and doors, and bars
Silently
Turns
the key
And then to my
Unspoken
plea
Softly you
Move close to me.
***
Written on the Subway Walls
When the sky falls
and the stars
go out
you’ll find me in the dark
still singing for you.
Follow my voice
the world is
nothing to me
If I have you.
When the dark comes downtown
and
the neon is cold
when the very wolves cry for hunger
that song
will remain
the melody, unweakened
The world is nothing to me
If I
have you.
***
We the damned of Earth grow wild
There is no sin like ours
No
payment asked
For a washing
No palm held out
Today, again, the bus goes by
And
we are left
Between the dogma and the belief
In the rain
We, the damned of Earth grow
wild
But all of all, tell
Where others dream of Saturdays
We
gather stars.
***
The Rose
Fourteen sages questioned me
About
your inner heart
I explained the hundred chains
The thousand
rooms apart
They shook their heads
stupidly
Scratched their bearded chins
So I tried to draw a
detailed map
With thread and colored pins
One by one they stumbled out
Falling
down the stair
And left the garden littered with
Hanks of
twisted hair
I carefully hid the maps and
pins
Beneath some folded clothes
And when you came home that
day
You found my gift - a rose.
***
Unfinished Poem
Afternoon is an old woman
Shopping
for apples
Morning is a small child
Spoiled,
dropping rattles
Without you
I am a fish in
currents too strong
And far from the weeds.
***
Be sure to check out my other publication, Dance Songs for Weddings, also available from Smashwords.
***
**** END OF POEMS ****
List of Completed Works by Lenny Everson (to 2011-12-06)
NOVELS
- Death On a Small, Dark
Lake. 67,700 words. Our hero snags a body in a remote lake.
Available on Smashwords
- Death on a Rocky Little
Island 71,500 words. Our hero convinces a friend to take
a canoeing trip to the 30,000 islands .Available on Smashwords and
obooko
- Mount Moriah 50,000 words. A strange
sequence events involves a priest, a poet, a CSIS agent, a space
alien, four horny teens, among others. Available on Smashwords
-
Last Exit to Pine Lake 45,000 words. A dying writer goes
back into the bush to off himself. Grimly literary. Available on
Smashwords and obooko
NOVELETTES
- Granite and Dry Blood.
9,700 words. Our hero wants to write a book on Massassauga Park.
Various people would prefer that he didn’t. Available on
Smashwords
- Death on a Foggy Spring Portage. 11,800
words. One member of a paddling group is found dead on a muddy
portage. Available on Smashwords
Screenplays
- Murder on a Foggy Spring Portage. One member of a paddling group is found dead on a muddy portage.
Plays
- Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont. Ghosts of the two Métis leaders meet in today’s world to remember their lives. A short (20-minute) play for two actors. Available on Smashwords
Full-Length Poetry Books
- The Minor Odyssey of Lollie
Heronfeathers Singer. A middle-aged woman tries to connect with
her aboriginal ancestry.
- In The Tavern of Lost Souls.
Four poets meet at a grungy bar once a month to give their poetic
answers to random questions.
- Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont
are Dead. Ghosts of the two Métis leaders meet in today’s
world to remember their lives
Poetry Chapbooks and E-Books
- 22 Love Poems for Love,
Weddings, and Anniversaries (compiled from other works)
Available on Smashwords
- Cherish the Day: 16 Canoe Poems for
Summer. part of a set of six chapbooks about the love of
canoeing. With illustrations.. Available on Smashwords
- Fierce
and Fine and Free: 18 Canoe Poems for Spring. part of a set of
six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations..
Available on Smashwords
- Fireplace and Wine: 15 Canoe Poems
for Winter. part of a set of six chapbooks about the love of
canoeing. With illustrations.. Available on Smashwords
- No
Ordinary Waters: Canoe Poems from a Strange Mind. part of a set
of six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations.. t
Available on Smashwords
- What Last Golden River Run: 17 Canoe
Poems for Autumn. part of a set of six chapbooks about the love
of canoeing. With illustrations.. Available on Smashwords
-
Encounter in a Small, Old Cemetery. Autumn. Midnight. Poet
visits a small, old private graveyard. Available on Smashwords
-
Fire and Ashes. Poems about life’s flames and regrets.
-
The Empty Tarmac of a Long-Abandoned Airport. Poems about
having a midlife crisis. Available on Smashwords
- Love Poems
A compilation
- Pray for Me: 22 Poems Probably Slandering God
and Jesus
- Ballads from an Unlucky Fisherman:
Available on Smashwords
- Tweetable Limericks: Volume I. 60
limericks small enough to be tweets Available on Smashwords
-
Hiking Poems Available on Smashwords
- Why Haven't
Aliens Contacted Us? Available on Smashwords
Co-Authored Poetry Chapbooks
- Who Would Be a God? Susan
Ioannou and Lenny debate the merits of being a god.
- How to
Dance Naked in the Moonlight. Katherine L. Gordon (Celtic pagan)
and Lenny (skeptic) confront the ceremony Available on Smashwords
-
Cats and Dogs. With I. B. Iskov
- For Ko Aye Aung: A
Plea for His Release from Prison. For Amnesty International, with
other poets.
Non-Fiction Chapbooks and E-Books
- If You Condemn Gays: The Bible
on Homosexuality and Other Items.
- The Architecture of
Suburban West Kitchener. A light look at house styles.
- The
Architecture of The University of Waterloo. A light look at the
campus buildings.
- Making Tourist Attractions for Towns and
Small Cities. Advice.
- Technological Cures for Global
Warming. Available on Smashwords
- Hyphens: A Guide for the
Early Twenty-First Century Available on Smashwords
- Colons
and Semicolons: A Guide for the Early Twenty-First Century
Available on Smashwords
- How to Review Draft Technical
Writings
- Rebecca’s Trail (Grand River Trail in
Winter) Available on Smashwords
- 7 Temples to Bill Gates:
a modern mystery Available on Smashwords
- The Great God Pan -
Or Not Available on Smashwords
- Two in a Tent: Camping
Humor Available on Smashwords
Songbooks
- 18 Dingbat Songs for Kids
Available on Smashwords
- Canoe Songs. part of a set of
six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations..
Available on Smashwords
- 18 Dingbat Songs for Kids
Available on Smashwords
lennypoet@hotmail.ca
**** END ****