Poet. Writer. Photographer.
Hold me tender,
the only one I seek:
temporary tear breach.
Dam the rest
as your love ripples,
fills again those crevices,
archaic, getting old.
I long for those fissures
to grave-grow cold.
Your weathered browns
still warm my soul.
(No sadness today, just recalling those times in each season when I needed most, and you drew me near to remind me of the greatest, purest truth I know. ❤️)
Poem and image ©LauraDenise
I never did
become bitter,
never let
my heart freeze,
but slowly,
I loosened
the grip
on the string
of my dream…
Not a death,
but last rites
respectfully
performed,
its helium
finally lost
just above
your shore…
My heart
descended
gently
into your hands;
I felt
that moment,
for inside me,
hope fluttered
again.
The way we make
our own magic,
dispel the spells
of cynicism,
leads me so easily
in complete belief
that our love will indeed
win.
So dance with me, my darling,
through all these ups and downs;
we’ll keep relighting our dreams
and color our own world.
Poem and image ©LauraDenise
I’ve loved before.
That’s what lovers do.
Never the problem,
just the flue.
My heat rising
and released,
but others
closed the vent.
I self-suffocated
each ember
of chance.
Again.
And again.
But my match,
finally met.
Impervious
to my intensity,
my molten form
held so tenderly.
I still love them all
for that’s what lovers do,
but so grateful each
closed that flue.
My fire is now
oxygenated,
a type of glow
that originated
when I was finally able
to feel being held,
and the way he made me
first love
myself.
We fell,
we rose,
along the way,
grew together,
blue and white
lovemaking
constellation
flame.
Oaths unspoken,
wordless vows,
our mutual love
could never be spelled,
no linguistic language
to transcribe these feelings
when souls communicate
in spiritual understandings,
silent exchanges
through touch and glances,
in light and irises,
we commune, begin
our dance.
Poem and image ©LauraDenise
My heart was open.
I think it always was,
which makes it so susceptible
to feeling too much
the lack of love,
the layers of loss.
My heart was open
when you came along.
Lucky, I was.
But I know you were led.
The same light as mine
has found me
again.
Poem and images ©LauraDenise
A petal shell, dried and fragile,
colorless, ready to detach.
Another wilted, drooping
in response, also giving
in.
Hopelessness.
Except
love nourishes, can always win,
just needs
more than waiting on the wind;
love needs help
for love is not always enough.
Love needs lovers
to rise up.
Love then can touch,
surround in green and blooms,
grow the heart,
heal the wounds.
I’ll harness the setting sun,
and feed it
to you.
It’s my turn
to be strong.
Hang on, my love.
Love with nourish us through.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:13)
Love never fails.
(1 Corinthians 13:8)
Dangerous to dream, I know.
Foolish to fly in a bubble!
Either could burst
without notice,
drop you fast in a plummet
to the hard reality surface.
But what if…
the trajectory was directed
by angels’ breaths
and the bubble made impenetrable,
a shield only able to be
forged from the past,
and you were gently lowered
precisely as intended
by the benevolence
of your higher power
assisting you in the navigation
toward your heart’s
deepest and purest desire?
What if the bubble
met passion’s fire?
And in the ashes
two phoenixes rose
and began new life
and left behind
all the rainbows
found in bubbles?
Poem and images ©LauraDenise
If I offered you my hand,
would you walk with me,
leisurely toward dreams
sunsetting upon the sea?
If I shared what’s in my shell,
let you hear the whispers,
would you heart-preserve them
among your dearest treasures?
If I stopped and turned
and looked into your eyes,
would I find there
what I’ve been searching for
all of my life?
If I were brave enough
to let that gaze linger,
would you be brave enough
to close the distance
even further?
If you kissed me,
would you be able to surrender,
to allow me to turn the key
and make you mine
forever,
not by locking,
but by releasing,
freeing the love
you’ve been deep-freezing,
to feel directly
the flutter of mine,
the wings I have grounded
indefinitely from flying?
And if they combined,
these lights in our souls,
would you regret
not having the time
for closure with
your shadows?
If our union ends
up to be the origin
of love,
would this moment
be perfect enough
for the first page
of our album?
Would you fall
each day deeper
in love with me;
would our love grow
until it lifts us
into eternity?
I suppose if you don’t know
all of this now,
I’d still like to walk with you
awhile,
and if you already know
all of this now,
you should know
these feelings in me
I could never
disavow.
As you reach for my hand
even though none of this
I have said aloud,
I feel the universe shift
and know I have been
finally found.
Poem and image ©LauraDenise
Inner chamber protected,
guarded. Scarred.
Misused and abused
before.
Colors over decades
fade.
Doors and windows
boarded.
The softness of you
like dawn.
Patience watercolors
shared canvas in pastels.
Gradually, I reach
to try some,
apply upon my soft shell.
Day by day, ébauche
to a never-final coat.
Overflowing well within
now self-saturates.
Self-love’s ducts
unclogged.
A Master peace of love:
brought together,
soulmates.
Poem and images ©LauraDenise
