Sonnet 28 - Nobility

I miss you terribly. To be silent
when I know you’re loving him, to smile when
we meet - but not too warmly - is torment
beyond the telling. There would be less pain -

though felt sharper, deeper – if I turn and
walk away forever. But I long to
touch you, hold you. I’ve no right to demand
your affection, but I would and I do.

I don’t want to guard my tongue too closely
when others speak of things I should not know.
I want to hear you cry my name when we
make love. I want to walk with you, kiss you

in public, yawn while you try on new clothes.
Nobility is a burden I’d lose.

Sonnet 27 - Perfection

I love you. Too-small words for such great need;
still, they're all I have. Questing souls conceive
infinity, then buckle when the field
shows itself too big to name. To reprieve

our quailing minds, we take snapshots and think
them true. These photos, our words, serve up the
universe in small frames. We can not blink
or we lose the whole. We know what we see.

Perfection is absolute, static, cold.
As rigid as bone, it can never know grace.
Our flaws make us accessible. The gold-
brown fleck in your eye enthralls, denies peace.

It’s imperfection that makes us lovely.
I love you truly, if imperfectly.

Sonnet 26 - Perfect For Me

You worry on your weight again. You’re sure
that you’re more, so less, than other women.
I have never seen you a pound over
lovely. A more discriminating man

might say what is wrong with your hips, your thighs,
and why. I can only tell you that hips
should always be shaped just so, and that size.
When I lie beside you and kiss your lips -

my hands traversing tummy, ribs, and side -
I rise to one elbow, marvel that such
beauty lies here. I knead your thigh, the white
wonder of your flesh so firm, yet soft, lush.

The ideal woman always left me cool.
You are perfect for me, or I'm a fool.

Sonnet 25 - First Grief

Ineffable sadness suffuses me.
As days are years we had lived a long life.
How should I be happy? I am lonely,
lorn, bereft of warmth and hope. The true wife

of my heart is gone from me. Years I sought
her, shattered my soul against any shore
to reach safe haven. Through darkness, I fought
free to joy, to love, to light. She was my sure,

calm harbor – bright beacon, embracing me
with limbs fashioned just to give me shelter.
That port is closed now. Gone home to you, she
must abandon me. One night I felt her

heart beat against my breast. My one word of
truth, she left to honor earlier love.

Sonnet 24 - Sacrifice

She was never really mine though, for a
time, I hoped she’d be. She was all my soul
and all remains. But each new sunlit day,
that bright lady wakes by you as you roll

out of bed to begin your work, never
knowing Beauty as she would know you. Not
one for sharing warmth, you’ll never shiver
as cold sorrow pursues you. You forgot

what magic waits in those arms, that smile, those
eyes. I’d shake you back to passion for her
sake. We all deserve love. It only grows
in the giving and she deserves better.

If I were blessed with that lady’s clean, pure
devotion, I’d return to her, love her.

Sonnet 23 - The Dance

No children tonight, no interruptions.
You ask me to build a fire, kill the light
and to cancel dinner reservations -
you say that we will be eating in tonight.

Later, meats and cheeses set aside, you
dip your middle finger into my wine
glass, paint my lower lip, then lick and chew
and tease. Wine long gone, your tongue - battling mine -

wrests sweet discovery; whimpers, whispers
and moans all our music now. You rise up
and I pursue – my hungry mouth captures
one warm breast. My goddess writhing – enough...

Heat, need, perilous passion, sweet romance -
no longer new, I would not miss this dance.

Sonnet 22 - Early On, Believing

I do so deeply love you - always did,
always will. Bold promise for one so new
to your life. I would have both of us rid
of remorse and loving truly. I do.

I am your friend, your champion, your life-mate:
I will keep you safe from harm. When you dream,
go sweetly, knowing that no fear, no threat
will breach the walls of this kind keep. I am.

I would be the true husband of your heart,
would lose all to be lost in you. I could
wake next to you a lifetime – that so short –
and know no greater joy than you. I would.

I do. I am. I would. So many years
I searched hopelessly. At last, I am yours.

Sonnet 21 - Home With You

You sneak in behind me, then slide your hands
into the pockets of my sweats, hug me
and whisper “Mornin’, Lover”. All demands
on my attention swept aside, I free

myself and spin around to catch you at
arms’ length. Early morning lovely, PJ
pants and a t-shirt clothe my silky cat.
I squooge you, get your coffee, start my day

with all of beauty that I’ll ever need
or know. I want to hold you, protect you,
dance with you in daylight. Your love has freed
me from lonely darkness, made my life new.

I want to watch you sleep, kiss you softly
on the forehead and whisper “Dream of me”.

Sonnet 20 - Nannie

Mary Eleanor bore two strong sons out
of wedlock in 40’s West Virginia.
“Nannie” to me, I never heard her shout
or bemoan the hard road she’d purchased. A

lady for ages - so was my grand mom
to me. She taught me to walk on the street
side, open the door, to offer an arm
to any woman, whether small or great.

It may just have been that none was there to
do those things for her, but she felt them right
and proper. I was Nannie’s boy, would do
anything to please her. When I turned eight,

we moved out of her house. My own son would
help with your coat, would feel it right he should.

Sonnet 19 - Mighty Pooh

The mighty Pooh thought he was a lap dog –
85 pounds of honey-white basset
hound – sweet and stubby and dumb as a log,
he’d scramble into the recliner, set

his great head on my thigh and sleep while I
scratched his ear. I loved that dog. He was made
for winter. His tiny legs, just as high
as my small hand, propelled him, unafraid,

through three-inch snow drifts until he’d founder.
The barrel chest would strive against the weight
of the pile he drove before him. He’d tire,
though, and back-track home to me. Often, late

at night, we would lie on the floor and eat
peanut M&M’s, huddled close for heat.