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2022 Albuquerque American Place Garden Psalms LOVE New Mexico Poems

My Loyal Friend (An Elegy for Cleopatra)

You can die
Of a broken heart!
It’s well documented.
And when you lose something
Dear to you…
You understand, you feel it
In your chest
Crushing
I lost a friend today, and
I’ve said goodbye to pets before.
(A number of cats including Riley & Jade
A few chickens including Happy & Perey
And of course Cleo’s friend Kato.)
but…
This was Cleopatra
Princess of the Desert,
Majestic Tiger Stripes
On soft, long mane.
One Bold Blue Eye
One of Cinnamon,
Eventually clouded orbs
Blinded by the Diabetes
That made her insulin-dependent
As she defied the odds.
Her broad shoulders
And thick skull from the
Bull Mastiff, should have
Made her life much shorter.
But, when you are so truly loved
You go on for so much longer
Than you should have even tried.
You, so loyal, you just
Stayed right by my side.

My first real business partner
And shift manager.
She led our house of muts
And herded all the chickens.
She protected our children
And gave them so many walks.
She ruined 3 of our lawns
1 from running as a puppy
2 for I don’t know why
I kept tryin’, maybe
Because of all the fun
She had playin’, rollin’ & fetchin’.
“Man’s” (Mom’s) Best Friend is not enough.
Your friends may come and go, but
Your dog is always next to you
And their love for you they always show.

RIP 2008-2022

Cleopatra (Cleo) Jones Sutherlin

Categories
2022 American Place LOVE New Mexico Poems

I shed a tear for the violin

I shed a tear
for the Violin
or should I say
her sweet straining strings
drew the anguish
welling up inside of me and
plucked out a tear as the
soprano sang an irish ode to
the love she’d let go
…as I had today
lost a beloved
pet
I wept as the string sang
to me the Eulogy
that was kept from me
by a busy day
of burying her and
then driving to the concert
where I
shed a tear
for the violin

Categories
2022 Albuquerque American Place LOVE Poems

They Are The River

The River’s Genesis
Comes from the tears of the gods
Crying with Joy
At the birth of her power!
She will change everything she touches.
Men will bow and beg to drink from her.
Villages spring up everywhere
She returns to fill the valley.
She is the great changer
of Mountains and molehills.
She
Takes the
Shape that
Suits Her
She disappears when conditions aren’t in her favor.
She is fierce
And will swell with deadly force
When threatened. She accepts the form
Of the vessels that bring her calm.
She is
Transformative
She is transforming.
She is Beautiful!
Just like you.

Categories
2022 American Place LOVE New Mexico Poems

Bronze Amulet

In search,
     In search, of
Bronze Amulet
To give to my love as an Anniversary gift.
None have I found
That is up to the task.
Most are unworthy
A facade, a mask.

Not the malleable mettle that makes up our love.
None that protects like a shield forged from above.
No patina to show that through thick and thin
We’ve endured the onslaught from without and within.
No, our love deserves
Much more recognition
Than a candle stick or
A dime store trinket.
Yes, our love endures
In Re-creation.
We wear our Bronze
On Our Hearts
In Our Spirit.

Categories
2022 American Place Colorado LOVE Poems

Forest Escape

Can I escape my inner me? Only if I take to the woods with thee. Where I must bathe in dirt and soake in sap. Where the air is so thin that I must breathe it again and again and again. Where butterflies mate and meet by the lake; fly up to the meadows to lay their little eggs on the purple and sage flowers that the caterpillars like to eat until they get fat and climb into the trees to turn into goo and then something new. To return once again to the lake to mate. They gather like scales on the dragon’s back, reflecting yellow and black like the sun on a stack of golden tiles that fly off now and again with the wind. They send my thoughts to the deer that disappear and appear out of the bush when you didn’t know where to look and see them standing right there in front of me. A Buck and three Does, a family so it seems, they fly off through the bush with a bound that makes no sounds and disappear into the beams of the sunset. So, yes I say I can escape with this outer Me when I spend time in the woods living this life with these — My Family.

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2022 American Place Colorado Garden Psalms LOVE Poems

Calm

The placid calm
of an abandoned hillside
now made resident
by my soft side
I have taken up these rolling hills as my cape
I drape it over my shoulders
to warm my spirit
against a cold dark world
that has sent me into the wilderness
to remember my origin story
to bathe in the forest air…
to watch the golden light set
fire to the pond which sears the
sun into my eyes emblazoning
the path to eternity
into my soul and kisses
me with hope that the darkness
can be killed by the light and
make the dark whole and holy
instead of dangerous and vicious
it’s delicious to consume
the sweet love of my family
as we spend some time in the woods

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2022 Albuquerque American Place Garden Psalms LOVE Poems

The words themselves are not enough

I am running out of words to say
For how much I Love You everyday
The words themselves are not enough
Because, “I Love You” is never the stuff
That makes a play or poem come alive
To tell the tale of how a love survives
The roughest seas of a love affair
Shared over time through triumph and despair
No. More must be said about how a life
Becomes another’s like the Husband and Wife
Where all is shared among the mundane and plain
When the boring days all turn into the same
How tragedy and pain effects them both
How together, the pair are more able to cope.
Saying, “I Love You” can never explain
How much you mean to me, so I say it again

I Love You
and again

I Love You
and again

I Love You
and again

I LOVE YOU!

Categories
2021 LOVE Poems

Opal

My love is an opal
Her eyes shimmer blue
And brown – deep azure pools
That get me lost
As I drown in her soul
Soaking in the warmth of
Her kindness and peace
A sparkling beauty that hypnotizes
My tumultuous spirit and
Calms my worried mind.

My love is an opal
Complex and diverse in formation
A pleasure to gaze upon
Metamorphic in her ability
To adapt to her beholder
A treasure I wish to hold
To my breast forever.

My love is an opal
Stunning
Celestial
Cherished

Categories
2021 LOVE Poems

Porcelain

Powdery white
Stunningly strong
Shapely and thin
Porcelain

My love, she is like a porcelain bowl
Always full of something delicious
To be shared with brilliant conversation and joyous laughter!
Beautiful on the outside
Intricate on the inside
Brimming with nurturing warmth
And sustaining compassion
Here for me when I am sick
Sharing with me to end my hungering
Sits next to me quietly and contemplative

My love is like porcelain
Enduring
Useful
Gorgeous
One of a kind
Something I want near to me
For the rest of my life!

Categories
2021 Garden Psalms LOVE Poems

I Love You

These words don’t suffice
For the depths of their meaning
So deep, an azure pool
Sky blue at the top
Navy in the middle
And a pitch blackness
Where no light can penetrate
Save the thought of you!
For true depth is darkness
And true love is the
Light that shines on
In your mind when
All else is dark.
That beacon that carries
You through darker moments,
Lonely nights and terrible possibilities
For even as we talk about
The “depth” of something
We rarely break down
What “deep” represents.
Like deep in the ground where
Well-springs hold dark waters
That once coaxed to the surface
Brings thirst-quenching Life!
Is the depth of my soul
A dark place as well?
It can’t be — For You are
The Light at the center of my Spirit
¡My Love!