One Poem by Myrtle Thomas

 

As a Basket of Autumn Leaves

I listened for the silent footsteps

and watched for the invisible shadow

feeling the day break in half

my eyes were so heavy

my heart as empty as the middle of an echo

so long ago was the last day, the last hour

and now so many seasons have died and lived

between us the sky and the rocks

the sea as deep as my love

you were born on a branch, a little leaf

full of life, smiling in the sunlight

like the laughter of falling autumn leaves

the music of the rain embracing the red and golden leaf

and you my love were the warm kiss of a lantern

the cool cloak of a starlit night wrapped in dew

so often I walk along the path with you in my heart

looking at the empty branches holding invisible leaves.

How can I explain the image of the wall where spring blooms?

where the grass is lush with the scent of summer

and time rides on the wings of lovers wading the sky

so often my frail heart recalls its furnace of fire burning,

through the night's shadows as they trace our nakedness

my breast bare and yielding full of tenderness and yearning

desire brought a vision of stars to our closed eyes

and the darkness of the night was illuminated

bright was the shadow of the sun and the moon in these hours

I felt the night roll as a river and the scent of flowers

filled my senses as I inhaled and exhaled with you,

life is most perfect within my soul an invincible love

that blooms with the exquisite fragrance of a summer flower.

Myrtle Thomas writes contemporary poetry on topics of love , loss and nature. She is retired from a large manufacturing company which gives her time to write her poetry. She has been published in "Otherwise Engaged A Literature and Arts Journal", Literary Cocktail Magazine , Ink Pantry , Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Writers and Readers Magazine , Sincere Dalliances , Masticadores USA , Chewers and Masticadores , Fevers of the Mind.