Forever Strangers...and other poems.

By Phil Askew

Forever Strangers... and other poems - begins with poems dealing with the many aspects of Love; from Found Love, to Lost Love. to Still Searching. These are poems of great joy, sadness, and understanding. Some are descriptive, some reflective, and some imaginative. All will leave the reader with empathetic feelings as they recognize and attach themselves to the characters and occurrences. Beyond these there are other poems concerning Nature, History, and Humanity, or heartwarming stories and tales of mystery, not to mention a few humorous ones.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jun 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098344375

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Forever Strangers…and other poems

Phil Askew

ISBN (Print Edition): 978-1-09834-436-8

ISBN (eBook Edition) :978-1-09834-437-5

2020 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted in any form or by any means including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law,

Contents

Forever Strangers

The Bottle

Endless Sleep

Forever Strangers

Shoreline

by icicles of love

Success

Singularity

Just Half

Tomorrow

Shallow Water

You and I

Cyber Fairway

Heartstrings with B-Flat Accompaniment

Hope and I

Summer

Night Sky

Promises

Unkind Man

Rain

Independnce

Inevitable.

Space

Reflecting Pool

Archipelago

Pieces

Failing Image

Elements of Love

STAINED

Love is a Life Raft

Metarealism at the Museum

Words of Love

Dahlia

Visions

Mate!

Faith

Tell-tale Island

Before the Lights

In Blind Sight

Red

Descent

Man on the Edge

Singing You to Shipwreck

Sunset

Half Heartache

Time

LAST IS BEST

Annealed

Infinity Dances

Upstairs

Packin’

Phases

Heartfelt

Love

Pointless

Waiting

Natasha

A Home Faraway

Red in the Mourning

Clouds

Naiads and The Mists of Time

Final Act

Carry On

Amour en passant

Amour en rapport

Amour en repondre

Silver

Atmosphere

Clinging to Your Memory

Merely a few days ago...we met

Melting

Write of Passage

A Black Veil

From a Friend

Other Poems

A Love Letter

A Note from Big Easy

Autumn Roses

Autumn’s in the Air

Language Barrier

Rive

Ile d’ Haine

The Breeze

Hot!

Cante

Social Distancing

Belle Tower

Looking Out

Flowers Never Bloom

Snow

Indian Summer’s Ocean Views

Invisible Man

Pirate’s Dungeon

Deliverance

Ice Storm

Bar Fly

lady in the rain

Summer Heat in Springtime

Poetry

Stripes

Dirigible

Meadow

Silence

The Bottle

Found near the marina;

Pieces of a bottle, shattered

like a fallen ornament from a Christmas tree

all green and glittery.

Did it hold the wine

that got the lonely sailor drunk

and he cast it aside

just before the morning Sun?

Or did it once grace the table of an Italian restaurant

where a young woman dined with a returning sailor?

Did it become her vase for a singular rose?

Had the winds and the tides carried it ashore

and crashed it against these rocks

its cherished note lost forever

or did someone take home the words

and leave the bottle here?

Maybe, a loving couple danced to a Mozart waltz

upon the deck of his sailing ship

and his unsteady hand and the tossing sea

took it overboard and brought it here?

Or was a disenchanted couple sharing the wine

but their arguments turned to struggle

and what they had shared, slipped from their grasp

falling empty and broken?

Perhaps then, an elegant, elderly lady

sitting on her antique sofa, in her nightgown

sent her grandson to get some wine

and he finished it all while sitting here?

Or an eminent older man fell asleep in bed

and his latest paramour, Madame Larue

stole his wine and his purse,

then left, and threw the empty bottle here?.

Or maybe these are images I created

to explain a life filled with too much bouquet

and that shattered bottle was found near the marina

next to the body of a now, ancient mariner?

Endless Sleep

An ocean away

too far it seems

for even the tiniest of dreams.

Hearts torn apart

forced to exist

on daily rations of a missed kiss

an absent touch, an empty core.

Please Love, may I have some more?

And Oh, the nights, the infinite nights:

Of constant dread, of books not read,

of a bed too wide – of you denied,

of love’s debris upon that sea

of separation, and Oh

the temptation

of a final weep

and endless

Sleep.

Forever Strangers

I never knew you…completely.

You were a mystery

dropping your veils

only when seduction failed.

My life became a dream

of the final silk in a gale.

You never knew me…all of me.

I kept you off-balance

changing when you sought the upper hand.

Secrets were my specialty.

Our romance became a wasteland

with my lies as plentiful as sand.

We never knew each other…

not like we should.

We were crazy-hot-heads-over heels

but we never understood

that love is just another word

for everything to lose,

and neither of us…

ever, sang the blues.

We never knew…Love.

It got lost in the you and the me

as we held back pieces of our hearts

and never cared enough to share …everything.

Now, we are forever strangers

Ghosts…

with songs to sing.

Shoreline

From on the hill, I believe I saw

veteran lovers, walking on the shore

into the setting sun, a silhouetted pair

he in his uniform, she with silver hair

made red again by the sunset’s light.

His halting steps veered them right.

She held him back to slow the pace.

Their weathered hands interlaced

tightly, to keep from falling down.

They never spoke, there was no sound

except the constant washing of the shore.

They stopped a while, then heart to heart

embraced like lovers long apart.

Darkening shadows broke their kiss.

They bolted, as if not to miss

a deadline that they had to keep.

They stumbled over tangled feet

and like young lovers, who cannot say no

they clung together, would not let go.

They lay in the sand a moment or more

then, ghostly white after their fall

they rose again and laughed at it all

.

Resumed their promenade a while,

then paused again, and smile to smile

knelt together and embraced.

They’d found their favorite resting place.

It seemed to be familiar ground.

They never spoke, there was no sound

except the constant washing of the shore.

Their bodies dropped, as though shot by the Moon.

They disappeared into their time-scarred dune.

I rushed from the hill to see for sure

but the veteran lovers I could find no more.

by icicles of love

Chasing dreams, in our vibrant youth

with poised and fluid grace

together, we rode our bicycles

over rustic roads of tranquillity

farmhouse-dreaming of the quiet life

while cows on hills were eyeing calves

and farmers contemplated the passers-by.

Parched, we quenched our thirst at a pond

fed by a murmuring brook.

Tired, we slept