Lovers' Garden

By Tony Colatruglio

Love does not die.
In eternal meadows of flower and fantasy--in Lovers' Garden--it thrives.
Enter through its arbor gate to see what awaits.
There's no telling what you might find, one line at a time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tony Colatruglio
• Release date: Feb 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463772973

Tony Colatruglio

So much to say, so little the time; but live fictive worlds in winged rhymes.

Book preview

Lovers’ Garden

by

Tony Colatruglio

Copyright 2020 Tony Colatruglio

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoy this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

For Meghan, my certified inspiration and American hero.

List of Titles

OVERTURE

A Garden Reverie

Dove

Questions

Countess and Swain

Gather Your Petals

Love in Full Swing

The Unmasqing

Rill

Starry-Eyed Dreamers

Brazen Raven

Full Circle

My Mignonette

Castles in the Air

Meander

Rain

Your Floral Art: An Ode

Another Line

Born to the Purple

Queen of my Heart

Bouquet

Comes the Garden Dawn

Fete Champetre: The Party

In Time

Love Lies Bleeding

Spheres of Love

Gild the Lily

Trog the Frog, the Great and Splendiferous

Reacquaintance

The Wishing Well

CHANCE GARDEN VERSES

Go

Potpourri

The Serenade

King and Queen

Sail

The Garden’s Romantic Quill

The Worship of my Days

Mental Flowers

Paradise

World at Bay

Light

Bane

Bloom

Candy Snow

Supplication

Dancing Lady Orchids

Building Bridges

Little Secrets

Intimate

Angel Adeline

The Rose of Being

Gingko Memories

Speak

Showcase

Never Die

Hammock

Workings

Jacob’s Ladder

The Lovebird Creed

Art

Promise

Lucky Stars

Dally

Emerald

Landed

CHANCE GARDEN VERSES ON THE FLY IN PARTING

Find You

Hasten

Artist

Divested

Groves

Regale

Shade

Spice

Cabin

Yield

Yield Again

Belle of the Garden

Bring

Strike Gold

Conceive

Overture

I.

Welcome, dear reader, to Lovers’ Garden,

a fantastical place where many hearts in love have fallen.

Enter through the arbor gate into flowing fields of flowering grace,

far beyond time and space, where dreams of love for you await.

II.

Roam, roam, roam the hills of divinely scented flowers.

Scour the meads for opulent bowers.

Go down, down among the verdant dales and dipping dells

and cast your heart into a wishing well.

Fall, fall under this garden’s spell.

Let its power compel you well,

for many romantic things await past that flowery gate.

III.

You’ll find it a type of starry-eyed paradise

where you may see sunrise dancing in your lover’s eyes,

And though you may meander at times,

you’ll come full circle, as all lovers do, with the one whom you hold eternally true.

Here, doves are not merely symbols of love;

they may even be harbingers or avatars of love.

So, too, are other creatures from high above.

And gentle rain—ah, the rain!—

it may even speak your lover’s name.

Such is the power of this domain.

Here, you can freely build castles in the air, should you care or dare—

You may even climb their stairs—

or remain, if you prefer, firmly on the ground, where other dreamy things abound.

In many seductive ways, floral art (that most romantic art)

goes straight to the heart.

In other scenes, which are perhaps merely vivid dreams,

a garden rill can give you quite a little thrill if you let it.

This is the garden’s way,

night and day, in countless ways.

Come for a stay, and love as you may.

A Garden Reverie

I.

A dreamy yearning by the sweet breeze sent

strikes her heart in wonderment.

And while she lays upon the courtyard lawn—

a soft smile courting the sun—

she swears she sees her inamorato again,

across her moisture-beaded body, waving a paper fan.

He boldly pierces her with his eyes,

bluer than even the garden skies.

He smiles wide, expectantly, just for her—eternally for her—

pent-up passions are beginning to stir.

Of this, there can’t be doubt.

Then she feels his hand again,

caressing the lengths of her chestnut tresses,

which she washed herself last night, just for him,

applying fragrant concoctions she’s made from her little garden.

Then a finger traces the curve of the arch

of her right foot, which rests against the stone of the wading pool.

Constant water streams from lions’ mouths—

bold, classic garden spouts.

The pleasant sounds of water trickling—

her left foot now rests flat along the ground, tucked underneath the right—

silken blades of grass, her foot tickling.

Or is it he?

She never can tell in this reverie.

II.

He clearly washes her feet with water from an earthen pitcher,

then dries them with the claret-colored scarf

that he’s removed from around her dainty waist with the master-stroke of a finger.

In reverie, in time, in a near-perfect moment utterly sublime, she lingers;

and he lets her linger and savor the sensual moment,

but in truth, he’s really not there,

such is the power of the garden air,

lent rich by roses fragrant beyond compare.

One of which, pink, he has plucked

for good romantic luck,

from a limb in fuchsia-colored flower clusters,

branching out over her head;

for fallen