For My Love Endures Forever: Poetry and Prose

By Joseph Anthony Russo

What ever could a childhood pact with God and waterfowl ever have in common?
What if trust allowed one to be a witness to it?

The belief that words can form a spiritual bond after death sets the tone for this narrative and for the preceding pages of poetry, all with a single theme traveling from grief to hope gone asunder, where the underlying theme is the possibility of encountering God in the most unexpected encounters with people, and in the most surprising of places.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Aug 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781466995802

Book preview

Copyright 2013 Joseph Anthony Russo.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-9579-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-9578-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-9580-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013909403

Trafford rev. 08/13/2013

11604.png www.trafford.com

North America & international

toll-free: 1 888 232 4444 (USA & Canada)

fax: [phone]

CONTENTS

A Few Beginning Words

A Word About The Illustrations

Springtide

Games

A Memory Of You

Out On A Whim

Two Chairs

The Procession

Golden Victory

Silent Snow

Expectation

A Management Decision

April Fool

Hunger Strike

Asunder

A Virtual Valentine’s Day

Aestivated

The Date

Waiting

A Visit In The Dead Of Night

Train Yard

The Parting Gift

Roses And Life

Self-Awareness

The Truth About Reaching The

Heights Of Love

Two Views

The Parade

A Final Word

DEDICATED

AS ALWAYS

TO MY WIFE,

MARJORIE,

FOR ALL THE DAYS AND ALL THE WAYS

MY LOVE ENDURES FOREVER

A FEW BEGINNING WORDS

T o introduce this book is to re-introduce this trilogy’s previous two books, while attempting to express a personal meaning of death and grief within the context of marriage. Written in the first or second person except for their stories, these books are a monologue before, during, and after death. While also touching upon mourning and lamentation, this book also speaks of renewal, in that death in a loving relationship is more than a period of despair. It can be the discovery of a new relationship, specifically that of living the afterlife of a marriage, which is determined by the desire and willingness of the remaining partner to do so. It is not a question what this might look like, but to remember that true love endures forever.

Joseph Anthony Russo, 2013

A WORD ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATIONS

M y wife and I frequently sketched outdoors together. One day, I discovered we had unknowingly been at work sketching the same scene. I learned that our differences in visualizing were our strength in that her humanistic eye and my analytical one created the contrast we needed as a married couple. But more than being only illustrations, they have created a memory of my wife. Although we weren’t artists or writers in any sense of the meaning those words convey, I have assumed in word what she accomplished in spirit, like dappled morning sunlight draping across a field of dew-laden grass.

Credit is posthumously given to Marjorie A. Russo for the sketches used on the following pages:

Cover design and other illustrations are by the author.

FOR MY LOVE ENDURES FOREVER

SPRINGTIDE

There is something universal

about a springtime smile,

Speaking of love and newness

springing all the while.

The tide does turn when

the universe turns bleak,

When all that was meant to be

Is no longer new