Love and Other Madness

A Selection of Romantic Poems

(for those who like that sort of malarkey)

by Dan Rowden

 “A Song”

I gazed upon two ponds today:

Blue as the sky,

Clear as a baby’s conscience.

A myriad of beings were swimming there;

A living chaos of beauteous apparitions.

I paddled my feet in their depths

And watched them ripple with innocent emotion.

I looked closer so as to see their beds.

But just then you closed your eyes

And took my ponds away.

———————–

from “Then there was you”

The crisp, clear water lapped my tired feet;

The cool, dew-filled air numbing my pallid visage

As the echo of my sigh rose among the clouds.

A gentle heartbeat mingles with the rhythmic flow

Of waves at the glassy, blue lake’s edge.

Noble Cedars rise above my brow

Like wooden sentries of the primal verdure.

The scents of the unseen blossoms linger boldly;

Quietude’s haunting voice whispers demurely,

“I am peace, I am freedom, bid me stay”.

My soul weeps – tears of calm beatitude.

“What greater joy?” it calls,

“What greater splendour, a kithless man befalls?”

Ah, but then –

Then there was you.

———————–

“Sylph”

Upon a quiet moment her name

Came softly with the wind,

And without so much as a question,

My soul took flight.

———————–

“The Sleeper”

As the eagle dreams of gentle winds,

And autumn leaves, the restful earth;

As the lover dreams of moonlit nights,

And empty pages, the poet’s loving hand:

Thus, I dream of you.

As a father weeps over the newborn child,

And a girl, her first sweet kiss;

As the thinker yearns for the key to life,

And weary days, the night’s calm bliss:

Thus I think of you.

———————–

“Night Quest”

Though a tear have I shed

For every star that cuts through

The ebon void of fathomless night:

Still I love you,

And forever will I search this velvet host,

For the sparkle of your eyes.

———————–

“She is”

She is (for want of other words) wholly inescapable

The scent of her neck in the soap

With which I bathe

The joy of her smile is in the face

Of every passing child

The eternity of her eyes is ever there

When mine are closed

She is ever-present

She is (for want of better dreams) my life

The tender lilt of her voice echoes fondly

In every word I speak

The innocent charm of her mind

Invades the wisest of my thoughts

She is in the very air that I breathe

How then could any man not love

Such a brooding presence

———————–

“Exclamation”

I Love You!

What more do you want?

————————

“This Is Ridiculous…”

This is ridiculous. I’ve been sitting here trying to write a

love poem; struggling, grieving, searching for words and meaning.

Five days I’ve been at it, and all for a girl that I’ve never

even met, will never meet – who doesn’t even exist! So much

pain for just a dream, a mere fiction, an apparition – five

bloody days! God help me if I ever fall for a real girl.

———————–

“Great Loves Unuttered”

(i)

If ever there was a greater love,

Than that of mine for you,

It’s never been uttered by the mouth of any man,

Nor etched in any natural portent that I can fathom.

(ii)

There’s no stronger pain than a great love unuttered,

And no greater disappointment than when uttered it be.

(iii)

Speak the quiet speak of love’s great silence:

Thus have I heard it said. But I understand it not.

All that I know is my heart’s eternal utterance

Cannot pierce your unfailing surdity.

———————–

“Enfants Perdus”

Like a bedraggled moth am I,

Drawn dizzily, yet inexorably

Toward the soft ethereal light

That shines from the eyes of a silken Goddess:

Poor stupid creature!

What hope for me?

———————–

“Love’s birth”

Her voice, like the wind,

Lifts my spirit up, and tosses it,

As though dust, into the Heavens.

Her smile, like the sun,

Melts my glacial heart, and draws it,

As though dew, into the clouds.

Her touch, like the night,

Calms my fearful mind, and caresses it,

Like woven silk, into a dream.

Her love, like the Earth,

Binds my restless soul, and drags it,

Like a newborn child, into the world.

———————–

“No Stranger is She …”

No stranger is she; I know her as enigma:

Ephemeral as the whispered word,

As winter snow upon radiant cheeks,

As a seraph’s dance in waking dreams –

As summer songs.

No stranger is she; I know her as a sylph:

Ethereal as the cherub’s smile,

As the rainbow’s secret easel,

As the lock at heaven’s very portal –

As vagrant swans.

No stranger is she; I know her as illusion:

Eternal as the mystic Void,

As Nirvana’s prophetic joy,

As this heart’s own eternity –

As times long gone.

———————–

“All That’s Left”

I’ll sing the praises then, my dear,

of love and maidens fair,

Though ’tis not me who’ll find them,

and know what lovers share.

A minstrel of the heart is all,

’tis all my part shall be,

For you have wandered dear, away,

away from love and me.

Though moon and sun I’ll not see grace,

your cheek nor golden hair,

I’ll sing the praises still, my dear,

of love and maidens fair.

———————–

“When Time And She Stood Still”

I saw her there that morning, naked,

Bathing beneath the falls, her gentle

Hand caressing her pale skin, so delicate.

Half hid she was, behind a shimmering curtain,

And though she was alone (or so she thought),

When she stepped forth from the water, with

Modest skill she covered herself, as if in fear

The sun and breeze might touch upon her privacy.

I’d never willed myself to die, but that I did

When her eyes lifted and met with mine.

And nothing more is there to tell, for all this

Happened ten thousand years ago, and we are still

There, staring at each other.

———————–

“Agonies”

When each shadow seems as yours

And each face, your eyes conceal.

When the night is bathed in sorrow

And the morn, my tears reveals,

Of you I dream.

When all wisdom melts before you

And your charms, no darkness hides.

When all life’s purpose seems within you

And my soul, with yours resides,

Of you I dream.

But should love be freely offered

And its blessed hope, forlorn:

Should the daylight’s warmth be shattered

And life’s curtain, quietly drawn,

Of death I’ll dream.

———————–

“Love’s Haunting”

Could it be love’s words I fear,

Or pale rejection?

Can I whisper the immortal words

If no joy upon your face they bring?

Shall I love in fearful silence

With no way to dull this wretched burning?

Would you run from me?

Would I pursue?

Would tender kisses ease your fears,

Or bid them grow?

I shall never know, for courage escapes me,

So I die.

———————–

“Vain Heart”

My smile seems not to move her,

My poems may never hold her,

My heart grows still more leaden

As the days fall slowly colder.

This waiting grows in sorrow;

Pale thoughts of dread tomorrow,

My hands belie their trembling

As though the courage of Job to borrow.

My wish is but to see her,

To love and softly hold her,

But the setting of each wintry sun

Sees my heart, a little older.

My mind knows less of reason

With the passing of each lonely season,

Now my soul has all but withered

For her eyes express, love’s treason.

———————–

“Perpetuum”

I dream of you each night;

I don’t know why.

You’d think your haunting

Of my every waking moment

Would be sufficient.

———————–

“Love’s harvest”

The seeds of her heart are scattered forth

Like air-borne dust in a summer’s breeze.

But, just as in seasons long since forgotten,

None shall fall upon the fertile plain

That is my love; and so, despite my warming sun,

Despite the rain I offer, love’s harvest

Shall ever remain as kin to those

Beauteous things but imagined.

———————–

“Monomania”

She is much too fair for all

But the most noble of hearts.

Still, she was mine, for a time.

Her steps spoke of self-assuredness,

Yet she walked with the lightness of a nymph

Whose tender feet never meet the earth.

Joyfully she danced upon my heart,

Like a debutante upon a stage,

Swirling in love’s applause.

But vanity seeks a higher place

And as easily as it comes, love goes.

And though her flesh I possessed, her heart

Ever belonged to that higher place.

Now my cheeks bear the scars of our union,

Etched deeply through the years

Like the great, desert canyons.

My soul overflows with emptiness

And a weary hatred lingers;

But even now my armour melts

When I hear her name.

———————–

“Disaffection Is A Sword”

It’s not the clumsiness of my words

That causes me discomfort,

Nor the breaking of my feeble voice

That brings me pain.

It’s knowing that your heart

Bears no wish to listen.

This alone, cuts me down.

———————–

“Hapless Threads”

The embodied somnambulism of my soul

is the greatest testimony to her power.

The delirium of my thoughts leaves no doubt

as to the hold that she has upon me, just as

the indifference of her smile makes clear

the joy this brings her: She, the kitten;

I, the ball of string. My all I’d give if

I could only entangle her in my threads:

Emotion’s web; love’s chaos.

I’d place her within the labyrinth of my heart,

free to walk the maze of my own emotions;

But she is swift like the kitten, and I am

helpless, like the string.

———————–

“Love In The Balance”

I die a little each time I think of her,

Because I love, but do not have her.

So why, you ask, do I bother?

Because I live a little also; it’s just

That my scale hasn’t worked since I met her.

———————–

“Solitary Air”

There’s a kind of sorrow in the wind today,

a melancholy moaning: O could it be?

Could it be the love I sent forth in that vacant former

spring – that love sent forth in search of you – now returned

to me with nothing but the weary echoes of my solitude?

———————–

“Philosopher’s Lament”

My heart is a portent, an oracle, a fate;

My soul resides with the farthest stars,

But you are there, beckoning…

You understand not the Infinite ways,

Yet you are there, ever beckoning…

Vain love! Vain life! Vain eternity!

Would that I could lose myself in those stars!

You frown at my hesitation, Temptress…but why?

Don’t you think my soul is important to me?

———————–

“Should Her Smile Be Mistaken”

Perchance I’ll see her today,

That essence of delight, walking

Alone as she does, so beautifully alone.

Perchance I’ll catch her eye today:

O wretched fool! The day is bright,

The lake her obedient mirror, the market

Teems with handsome youth and the very ground

Softens itself beneath her feet;

What makes you think she would …..

Hold still! There she is! She sees me!

She sees me! She’s smiling! O Lord a smile!

O God take me! Pray take me now! O God!

———————–

“A Little Truth”

I’m sometimes asked if I still love that girl.

To which I reply that at least part of me does;

And many are the mornings that that part of me…

Wakes before I do.

———————–

“To you, Almond Eyes”

Would that we were alone in the world,

You and I……all alone;

Then you would have to give me your love,

There being no other.

Then my hands could know your spine, and my breath

Hover lightly upon your cheek, like gossamer.

Then I could tell you all the secrets of my love,

For to no other whispers could you turn your ear!

To none else would I then be comparable, and thus

Fear being crushed by your look of disappointment.

Yes, then would I know your smile is for me alone,

And that my frail imaginings will all become real.

Would that we were alone in the world,

You and I, Almond Eyes;

Then you would have to give me your love,

There being no other.

———————–

“An Unconscious Theft”

Sweet, you have stolen my heart, you just don’t know it; and

if I were to ask for its return, ah, that would give the game

away! So, what is left for me but to let you possess it for a

time, and hope that you treat it with kindness? But, we are

often careless with the things we possess in ignorance, and

thus I fear my heart lay in great peril: so then, I will tell

you gently of your theft, but will not call it this – rather,

my humble gift – perhaps then you’ll be more benevolent.

———————–

“That Fearful Journey”

The train shudders upon the track,

But I am oblivious, since my heart

Is doing much the same, though more intensely.

I’ll find you at the end of this journey,

Find you – but in what state?

Not one of love; no, no, never that!

I’ll find you as I have always found you:

Oblivious to me, with a heart that shudders

To the rhythm of its own journey.

Is it any wonder I hate riding in trains?

———————–

by Dan Rowden

Love goes not where faint hearts dwell,

But seeks instead, a fiery hell.

———————–

“Absence”

Though our hearts are not together,

Sweet fondness dreams of this:

I long to hear her laughter,

I long for just a kiss.

Though her eyes are elsewhere shining,

And warm embraces do I miss,

Yet passion’s song is mellow still,

For true hope is made of this.

———————–

“Games”

I love you

You don’t care

I beg

You smile

I cry

You laugh

I wither

You grow

I pine

You play

I die . . . . . . . . now, you cry.

———————–

“What then?”

If I said I love you,

What then?

Would the rainbow’s gentle arch

Fall silently upon the ashen sea?

Would the swallow’s playful dance

Forever be as still as earth-felt snow?

Would summers die,

If I said I love you?

Would the Heavens quake and thunder

And Lucifer himself bemoan his birth,

Tearing at his heart in wild perdition?

Would the trembling of your heart

Bring muteness to the softness of your lips,

And time itself be forever stilled?

Would statues weep,

If I said I love you?

———————–

“Paradox”

Her hate is like a knife

Hovering silently over my heart,

And only if it plunges tearfully downward

Can I possibly know her love.

———————–

“Love is”

Love is but a quest for the noble heart,

Or the stumblings of a fool.

It trembles in the souls of Gods,

Where folly rules.

Love is but the joyous birth of days,

Or the shattered waste of dreams.

It lingers in the minds of men,

Where devils scheme.

Love is but the foundry of the brave,

Or the sepulchre of the coward.

It whispers through the seasons passed,

And time devoured.

Love is but a quest for the noble heart:

With thee, my part.

———————–

“She And Love”

Love’s sublime Theosophist

Emotion’s esoteric sage

Love’s ultimate Thespian

Poetry’s eternal page

Love’s very own lover

Man’s unavoidable cage

———————–

“Domino”

There’s no music to match your voice

No sapphire to match your eyes

No pillow to match your bosom

No evil to match your lies

Falling

Falling

Never to rise

The end of your beauty

The truth of your guise

———————–

“Obit To Doubt”

I swore if she ever left me,

I’d kill her.

Laughing – she left.

Laughing – she died.

Laughing – I kiss her stone.

———————–

“Only Love”

I tell you only Love can make a man fearful of the

beauteous. Only Love can cause a man to see

himself as wholly inferior to a woman. Only Love can rob

a man of his reason, and leave him totally blind

to the theft. Only Love can make a man positively

hateful of his very own soul; only love, and

perhaps madness.

———————–

“Regrets”

She should have married the postman, I think;

She gives him more smiles than me.

There’s a middle-aged grocer she knows pretty well;

She often invites him for tea.

But they do not love her,

Nor care for her heart;

They merely submit to her guiles.

If only they knew that her heart isn’t true,

They’d never acknowledge her smiles.

Yes, she should have married the postman, I think;

I really don’t care for him much.

———————–

“What They Really Mean”

“I could not live if she should die!”:

So saith many a literary minstrel;

But how many poets are found hanged?

No, no, naiveté – what they mean to say is this:

“I cannot live without the thought of her death!”

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Categories: Literature

Tags: Air (visual novel), Earth, God, Infant, Love, Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, Nirvana, Poetry, Romance