The Trunk

 

The Trunk

Unbuttoned buttons

Falling out of an old trunk

Stuffed with mildewed lace

And blue ribbons barely

Holding together ancient love letters

Browned with age and turning to dust

At a touch

There, a faded photograph lies

'Neath cobwebby frames and old air

Remnants of a life long dead

A love still living in a distant past

I hear the sweetness of a tiny bit of violin

Muffled girlish laughter

Shoes with elaborate bows dancing dainty steps

As the face in the photograph looks down

From his towering height into shining blue eyes

A pocket watch with exquisite chain of gold

A lock of auburn hair inside a locket

A pressed flower so old, I cannot tell what it had been

A book of Keats, it's sanctuary

And a prayer book with a scribbled prayer in spidery hand

"Please, please, please, dear Lord

Let this be the night he asks me!"

Underneath a wedding veil, a Bible with crumbling cover

Inside, the marriage recorded for all the world to see

Oh, happy, happy day! She has written in bold letters

And I feel the joy and smile at her rejoicing

In a brocaded box, a baby's tooth, a curl tied with thread

A christening dress, what used to be a doll

With reverent hands I pull the items towards me

Breathe in the musty memories they eminate

And gently place them back inside the trunk

In the corner, stuck inside a seam, I see a picture

Creased and faded almost into non existence

The woman's blue eyes, still shining, still full of love

Sitting in a rocking chair, holding a doll

As though it was her sole salvation

No gown of yellow adorned her frame

And I could not hear the violin's tender trill

But I knew that it was her

And for a moment, it flashed into my mind

That she could see me seeing her

See me holding the remnants of her life

Celebrating her little victories

And great, great losses

Now silently announced by the ugly black dress

And by an unspeakable sorrow on a yet young face

"I'm so sorry." I whisper

And close the trunk in slow retreat

Passing an ancient mirror standing like a portal

To another world in that dusty, forgotten attic

I catch a glimpse of my own face surrounded by untidy curls

With similar eyes and inherited sadnesses

It is her face there staring back at me

"It is our face." I think and touch my rounded belly

With a new mother's hands

Perhaps, it'll be her face, too. And I'll bring her here

To see where she came from, how strong the genes imparted

How thick the blood, how deep the love that survives the sorrow

Down through the ages

And imprinted on the cherished things she touched

Almost disintegrated now

But living still

Inside that dusty trunk.

©by Voo

May 14, 07

3 p.m.

Found On A Blue Green Sea repost

Found On A Blue-Green Sea

We sailed upon a blue-green sea

My love and I, that night

Beneath a moon of solid gold

And stars, silent and bright.

We clung to love with wanting arms

And spoke of things to come

Of fire and cold and growing old

And paths that lead to home.

We drank the night like it was wine

And whispered in the wind

Laughed at all the lonely years

And what almost could have been.

We'd found the faces we could love

In crowds of loveless hearts

And made our pact, no going back

To romantic stops and starts.

(Maybe love is magic

And maybe love is glue

And only love can mend the seams

Of a life that's torn in two).

But in that lovely little ship

Beneath those stars so bright

We solved the mysteries of our lives

As we sailed into the light.

Sometimes we don't know who we are

Till in a lover's eyes we see

All we ever hoped and dreamed

And all that we could be.

We nestled down in harboring hearts

Like treasures found and kept

While wind and sea carried us to shore

And in arms of love, we slept.

The song that inspired the write

The Promise by Secret Garden

the most beautiful melody I ever heard.......

©by Voo

Dec 1, 07

11:11 p.m.

                                                              and click below to hear me reading the poem.............

 

The Blue Vineyard Of Voo Shining Stone: AND I SEZ, BABY

The Blue Vineyard Of Voo Shining Stone: AND I SEZ, BABY: And I Sez, Baby……………. So I’m settin’ in ma pickup truck Tha fancy new ‘un I picked up last Sundy Off an unat...

I Followed The Moon

The Heart Within
by Peter Gundry

I Followed The Moon

I followed the moon to find you

For the moon knew where you did abide

In a forest of green that was hidden, unseen

With no door to let me come inside.

Your feet left no tracks on the soft grass

I could not follow you on the trail

I could not discern for I had not yet learned

All the secrets that you kept so well.

You came to me in shadow one bright night

When I was there weeping alone

Lying in a field of moon flowers

With a young heart that felt made out of stone.

All of my life I'd felt lonely

And thought  that I always would be

Except for the man in the moon, my one friend

(For I thought that the moon followed me.)

And you sang to me while I did sleep

Lying on that ground

You caressed my face with tender grace

And then left without a sound.

I looked for you long after that

And called for you to hear

But though I could not see your form

I felt that you were near.

Sometimes I heard you singing softly

In the whispers of the leaves

Sometimes I saw you clear as day

In the branches of the trees.

At night I dreamed of your bright eyes

Watching in my room

But when I opened up my own,

Saw nothing but the moon.

Sometimes I felt you touching me

Kneeling by my bed

Raising my face for your kiss

Your hand upon my head.

Sometimes you did much more than touch

Sometimes you deemed to linger

And wrapped me in your arms so tight

And round your little finger.

And I began to crave that touch

And hunger for that bliss

And I became a woman, lost

With each beguiling kiss.

For many nights you did not come

Not even in a dream

And I went mad with wanting you

And holding back my scream.

And then one night with second sight

I knew where you might be found

I slipped out of my window

While the moonlight lit the ground.

And I followed the moon as it hurried ahead

In the sky toward the forest so dark

Ignoring the danger, the beast and the stranger

As the hunger led me by the heart.

I followed the moon to find you

Not knowing if man or a ghost

Awaited me there in the green forest lair

Nor if you'd be a welcoming host.

And when the moon had come to rest

I stopped underneath it's glow

Wondering if I'd lost my mind

Because I didn't know.

If you were real or phantom

If you were myth or man

And I cried and cried there in the dark

Until you took my hand.

'You came to me!" you softly breathed

"Your love has set me free!

The curse is reversed and broken

Because you came to me!"

And you covered my face in kisses

And looked into my eyes so deep

"Until tonight I could only touch you

There in the world of sleep."

"Your love has given me flesh and form!"

You cried with human tears

"You do not know how long I've waited

For all these lonely years."

"I followed the moon to find you." I said

"With my heart full of doubt and of doom 

But is this tale of yours true, my love, who are you?"

And you smiled, "I was the man in the moon."

©By Voo

October 2, 2019

2:38 p.m.

Send For Me

 

Send For Me

I felt you today

Standing there on the city street

Dodging between raindrops

And pigeon feathers

You gulped your lunch

And turned to

hurry back to work

Or something resembling work

When something caught your eye,

And then your ear

As a wisp of music wafted above the noise

Along with a scent of perfume

And the glimpse of black hair falling over a shoulder

It made you catch your breath

And for a moment you just stood there not breathing

With a lump in your throat

And your heart pounding and breaking

Yet feeling alive for the first time in a long time

It was exhilarating and exciting

It was wonderful

And frightening

And I know you thought of me

Like I'm thinking of you now

Didn't you?

©Voo Shining Stone

April 21, 2023

12:23 a.m.