Paradise Lost

PARADISE LOST
By PoeticMeditations

Did Milton know the agony of a broken heart
Of love won, but now forever lost?
Banished from love’s sweet paradise
Forever to remain apart.

Did he, too, suffer love’s wounds so deep and terrible
That leave the still loving heart to bleed?
Wounds time itself could never heal
The pain beyond unbearable.

Haunted by bittersweet memories of Eden’s bliss
Endless days of happiness and joy
How far from grace to have fallen
Since that first innocent, tender kiss.

Days of Wine and Roses

My first collection of traditional poetry now available on Kindle.

Now available on Kindle is my first collection of traditional poetry, Days of Wine and Roses (Craig J. Eliott is a pseudonym). It consists of four parts: Part 1: The Rose (Love), Part 2: The Seasons, Part 3: The Poet, and Part 4: Loss. The phrase “days of wine and roses” first appeared in the poem, Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam by Ernest Dowson:

The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long. –Horace

 

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.

                                                           They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
                                                           Out of a misty dream
                                                           Our path emerges for a while, then closes
                                                           Within a dream.

 

Starbucks Poseur

STARBUCKS POSEUR
By PoeticMeditations

He’s a Starbucks poseur
With his Moleskine® and ballpoint pen
Mock turtleneck and a latté
Sitting there like he’s Hem.

He’s more like a bad actor
In some third-rate, off-Broadway play
Pretending to be a writer
In a famous French café.

Does he realize we see right through him
Or does he believe it’s true
That he’ll write the Great American Novel
By the age of twenty-two?

He’s a Starbucks poseur
With his Moleskine® and ballpoint pen
Mock turtleneck and a latté
Sitting there like he’s Hem.

I Have But Words

I HAVE BUT WORDS
By PoeticMeditation

I have but words to woo your heart
Comprised of simple letters
Arranged in delicate patterns
In pursuit of higher art.

Seduce your ear with their velvet sounds
Your eyes with their sparkling forms
Praise your beauty upon the page
Unlimited – without bounds.

With words of love so sublime
Move your heart to passion’s heights
Transport your soul to realms poetic
And leave all worldly cares behind.

Fairy Tales

 

FAIRY TALES
By PoeticMeditation

I once believed in fairy tales
Happily ever after was meant for me
Sleeping beauties to be awakened with a kiss
Wedding bells and endless days of wedded bliss

Searching for love true in this world
Turned out to be worthy of Don Quixote
The odds are daunting – ten billion to one
With this fool’s quest for love, I am completely done

Some mountain peaks are far too high
Their towering summits difficult to achieve
Gone all illusions – only bitter tears left to weep
Love is but a dream to sweeten our bitter sleep

Loves’s Discontent

LOVE’S DISCONTENT
By PoeticMeditation

Cold has grown the blazing heart
After all the passion has been spent
What was inseparable has grown apart
Love’s tapestry has now been rent

Flown the lark with its songs of love
Withered the rose blooming on the vine
The sun no longer shines above
Bitter has grown the once sweet wine

The heart lies buried beneath the snow
Growing fainter with each passing beat
Wounded by pride’s fatal blow
Love that conquered now knows defeat.

A Book of Common Days

A collection of my haiku dealing with themes of nature, love, loss, and time.

A collection of haiku, A Book of Common Days, under my haiga (pen name) “Ogi” meaning “a common reed” is now available as an ebook at Amazon.com