Sonnet 70 – Hungry Hours

There is nothing now to distract us:  no
kids or calls, no irritating clothing.
Nothing but me and thee, Bright Angel, so
let these brown, wild eyes speak everything

to you that you long to know.  Let these two
hungry hands soothe you, please you, shape and shake
the coming hours for pleasure.  I’ll hold you
tightly, face-to-face, show you how I ache

for you, let you feel the heart that beats and
burns for you alone.  I’ll make you feel that
you are beautiful beyond telling, then
give you such sweet reason to believe it.

Later - kissing, clutching, striving – we’ll win
our way through to the place where we are one.

Sonnet 69 – Whimpers

You whimpered first when we kissed our second
time.  Your mouth met mine with such sweet force, your
lips and tongue all the treasure I could want.
But hungry eyes and hands promised me more

of warmth than I had ever dreamed or known.
You snaked your leg around me while we stood
unevenly, clutching and crushing one
another, seeking sweet balance.  No word

speaks so clearly to me as what you do.
Your every action screams bright longing
and a desperate yearning for one true
moment of joy and completion.  Writhing,

our mouths married to heat in need, we move
as one toward release, still fearing love.

Sonnet 68 - Last A Nighttime

I’m looking for love to last a nighttime.
Long time, life time, forever – they’re too far
for me to reach.  When I get you home, I’m
not going to be able to see more

than now and again.  I want to learn how
you look by candle light, how your body
moves with mine.  I’m going to see you throw
your head back in passion, make you hungry

for more.  In the morning, I’ll watch you wake
and stretch and shine.  One sweet dawning dance done,
we’ll drink coffee on the front porch and make
plans to see us through lighter hours.  And when

our day is done - before that evening’s through -
I’ll want to steal another night with you.

Sonnet 67 – My Best Friend

When we are apart, I’m made less by more
than half. You don’t just meet me where I live;
you complete me, make me whole. I adore
you and I'm avid for your love. I’d give

you all of happiness for the grace you
have given me. No bride ever moved her
man to such extreme passion, dancing through
darkness to light. Still - holding you after

the dance ends, joking while you make coffee,
or talking on the porch while the dog wakes
at our feet – then I know my full heart’s joy.
Twice loved by you, I’m more - your friendship makes

me so. How blessed to see each sweet day end
with my dearest love being my best friend.

Sonnet 66 – The Down Side of Good

As you grow older, your eyesight seems to
sharpen. You see lines I’ve never noticed
near the eyes that taught me love. You say you
have put on too much weight – I guess I missed

that. I swear to you that the face which haunts
and heals me has not aged, though I’ll humor
you and say it has. You say that Time taunts
you, makes you feel less than you were before.

Before what? Before Love? She is timeless,
ageless – just as you are to me. I joked
that you were on the down side of good. Yes,
you are older – I know because I looked

at the calendar you read. Please forgive
me? You walk in beauty and always have.

Sonnet 65 – Always Know Springtime

You came to me without make-up, your hair
swept off your shoulders in a pony-tail.
I had never seen you more fine or fair
or lovely. When my eyes finally fail,

I’ll carry you so deeply burned into
my mind that I will always know springtime.
Without the aid of sight, I picture you
even now and can trace the gentle line

of your jaw, the nose that nudged mine in love.
When I hear your voice, I know precisely
how your face is set. The eyes that could move
me to such savage need still burn for me.

When I lay me down and turn out the light,
I dream you here, hold you, kiss you good night.

Sonnet 64 – Unhomed

My heart is unhomed. Once steady and true,
I founder now, never coming nearer
my center than “there”. When I first found you,
I thought I’d never know a false sail or

a black night. Your eyes were all the stars I
needed to guide me to sure, sweet comfort.
In your arms I found a haven where my
spirit could know sanctuary, a port

proof against any gale. Now you are lost
to me and I know no kind current, no
compass. On any dark sea, a storm-tossed
sloop will bear a man without a base to

unsafe harbor. I long for your light hand
upon the wheel until we’re clear to land.

Sonnet 63 – Her Turn

I was not expecting to hear the word,
though I had been longing to know you love
me and that you are my man.  If we would
have had complete privacy, there would have

been no stopping us - so much heat.  I want
your affections more than I should.  You show
me the love I have longed for and I don’t
want you to doubt my feelings for you.  Know

that you whisper to my heart, you restore
my faith.  I think of you constantly and
want to pick up the phone just to hear your
voice.  I want to hold you, to place my hand

on your chest.  I want so badly to be
the one who screams as you make love to me.

Sonnet 62 – A Third Way

I want new options, a clear path.  I’m not
built for loneliness but it seems custom
cut for me.  I need passion and white-hot
hunger.  I long for longing, but there’s none.

Where I should find love, I know distance and
occasional cold care.  Where I would find
love, I can’t - he already claimed your hand.
Damn love and damn obligation!  We bind

ourselves to another in need, never
considering the cost or how cruel time
can be.  The choices I made brought me here
and decisions demand attention.  I’m

caught between the implacable and the
impossible – isn’t there a third way?

Sonnet 61 – Gray Days

So many cold gray days will pass before
we find our way through this. I already
know more of missing you than I ever
wanted to learn.  Too often, I think “we”

then buckle when I find that you’re not there.
How could you be?  You have a home and a
family, an obligation to share
your days and nights with them.  You and I play

house in stolen moments, knowing that an
hour or an evening cannot be a life.
So we look for some middle way that can
ward us against the loneliness and strife

we find ourselves bound to.  There’s no need to
fear, Angel – gray days or none, I love you.