Category — Poetry

Christmas time for you and me

tis’ very different I’m sure you’ll see

the favourites that please you and me

complete this yuletide picture…

Christmas bright with candlelight

good friends to share with you,

log fires that crackle, and ban the cold

toes warm as toast on rugs of old,

scented smell of cinnamon and

warm mulled wine to sip,

when carols sung of partridges, turtle doves,

winter crystals fall as snowflakes

from heaven above, to settle

on gleeful warm faces, catching

their lashes as they quicken their paces

to peep in pretty windows dressed ready to share,

a few of these favourite things.

Jenny’s warm crisp mince pies

adds a sparkle to your eyes,

quince jelly and all those yummy things

brandy butter and children’s grins,

at snap of pretty crackers, mottos

laughing faces and silly chatter,

sweet smell of oranges, chestnuts too

Oh! to share them all with you.

Coloured garish paper hats, that special robin

that came and sat

near mistletoe for that special kiss,

we hang in bunches not to miss

the wonder of the child’s eyes

as underneath the tree is spied

coloured papered box entice,

if you’ve been good, if you’ve been nice?

Family, friends, laughter, fun..

“Merry Christmas” special ones.

Christmas time no different you see

Just as long as you’re here with me.

All Rights Reserved @ December 2009

“A Power Within – Poems Of Love” Anthology of fifty poems selling world-wide and available to purchase here.

http://www.susiehemingway.com/books/

Proceeds to Multiple Myeloma.

Fifty poems of Love now available to purchase: Link Here

http://www.susiehemingway.com/books  All prices include P&P

Link here http://www.susiehemingway.com/books/  to purchase this  richly  designed poetry anthology filled with Poems of Love in diary form. More than one hundred  pages telling ‘our story’

              Later this month my poems are to be published in a book called  “A Power Within” It is  pleasing  to see more than fifty of these poems of love, all together in this  beautiful book with it’s rich coloured cover-not I might add, the beautiful photo I leave here for your delight today-and 105 pages, which would look beautiful adorning any coffee table. I am thrilled with the result of the proof and with the superb layout done by Matt Rutherford of  www.mattrutherford.com  thank you Matt. More news on the release date will be here later this month.

~Sunset Photo courtesy of Colin Brown – All Rights Reserved~

Silver shimmering crest of light

that shines and glistens on special nights

but only seen by those who love,

for those who notice this moon above

fluorescing glow of softest light

that shines on waves in rolling flight,

this secret candescent light that holds

a special place in lover’s souls,

when the flotsam of life is tearing at you

lift your head and see this view.

When life’s foreboding ways do seek

to sometime knock you off your feet

take your dreams and shake them loose

never stumble for you will see

this shining luminosity of moonlight free,

for on these magic nights of love

that glow for lovers from above

especially for those entwined souls

for secrets between them never told

tilt your head to gaze above

to see this gemlike moon of love…

This poem is dedicated to Sally and Maurice. October 2009

Copyright @ Susie Hemingway 2009

Photo courtesy of Sally Leeves

I carry thee like the heavy rain drenched leaves cover the precious plants

I carry thee like the mother with soft-fleshed babe in arms

I carry thee on heavy days, when limbs are tired but heart is willing

I carry thee.

I think for you on difficult days when drug filled mind is fuddled and quiet

I think ahead for you with heavy heart filled with anxious thoughts of decisions that must be made

I think of you when struggles to move are hard and bones make creaks and eyes are dulled

I think of you.

I watch for you, I listen to your breathing, when night has fallen and stillness comes

I watch for you with hope you never stumble or fall

I watch for you to make that kiss you love, entirely right at night

I watch for you.

I dream for you that days will pass pain free and  be filled with God’s blessings

I dream for you when watching  Autumn leaves fall as trees again show their tangled limbs.

I dream for you that you will see the Summer sun, rise across the pastures green once more

I carry thee….

@ Copyright 2009

Do you remember long ago

you found that magic place,

where lilies filled most every room

and beds were dressed in lace

the men in polished uniforms

took bags and opened doors,

and the crystal of the chandelier’s

twinkled straight on marble floors.

The majesty and splendour of

this, your special place,

was clear as sparkling water

that ran from fountain space.

You sat me by the sea-view

in a chair of plushest silk

the lady with the clear sweet voice

the harp, it’s gentle lilt,

you said my hair was "pretty"

and my dress was "just divine"

and then they brought us pink delights

and goblets full of wine.

The scent from all the lilies

that filled most every room,

could that be what was turning

my heart, amid the blooms,

perhaps it was the dark red wine

perhaps it was your face,

perhaps those gilded bronzes,

I remembered in that place

We walked on Turkish carpets

in rooms of ormolu,

along the ‘china’ terrace

admiring stunning views,

we walked along the waters edge

leaving sandals on the stairs,

still that beguiling smell of lilies,

I wondered where, from here

and as you turned and smiled

coming, face to face……

where lilies filled most every room,

and beds were dressed in lace.

@ Copyright 2006

Brilliant Sunset sinking fast

of pumpkin corals and scarlet reds,

slowly first, as watchful eyes

dream and melt in paradise.

We turn to stare at coloured sky

and watch graceful bird swooping by,

we listen to the palm trees sway

as sun kissed bodies feel close of day,

evening warmth on cooling skin

pleasures seem to merge within.

Sinking slowly, small cirrus streaks

enhance this beauty we love to seek.

Vermilion ambers, Magenta hues

spectacular colours for me and you,

gentle sounds of ebbing waves

this rhythm and flow of life and days…

Why we seek this twilight sky?

this energy that makes us sigh,

that makes our shoulders rest this way

that always takes our stress away.

This colour of power, this colour of

might, this reason to live, this reason

to fight,

this Sunset watched with only you

delicious memories come into view.

With many thanks to Sandy Banks *

http://www.retiredforgood.blogspot.com for allowing me to use these very beautiful  photos and for dedicating the top rather special  Sunset  Photo to us both.*     

Sandy said… Your poem prompted me to gift those precious moments as the sun slips down behind the mountain and sea – caught, but not stopped – to you and your beloved… I love your words that bring the essence of a season or a moment into very sharp focus. Thank you again….

All Rights Reserved@ October 2009

She came rushing in, or though it seemed to me,

disbelief that this colourful Lady with her cloak of reds and golds had already arrived, when I glanced from my window.

I must have been looking the other way!

but then we don’t count the days pursuing more important matters now…

As the relentless stricken battle appears once more

on the horizon, had she come to distract my mind or bring colours to my heart?

This feckless stunning Lady who sheds her clothes

and scatters them where she will, like drops of tears in

a template of sadness perhaps?

A powerful change of authority as restless and now incipient to decay.

Old roses fade and fall like shattered fragments of glass from a precious mirror,

the hedgerows become bare, no  more luscious berries

but still holding onto their thin strips of  life.

Leaves, could they ever be more beautiful? 

turning to deep maroons and burnished, glinting,  jewelled colours.

Conkers appearing from their secret shells to fall in copper splendour from the impressive stately Horse Chestnut trees.   

We arrived, like we had  just opened our eyes.

Another Autumn! who would have believed we would

see this majestic Lady together, dumbstruck once more at her  beauty

but belligerently waging war on staying in our perfect peaceful Summer… 

not for us, the rushing of time…

@Copyright Susie Hemingway 2009

Photo at “Hemingway”

I missed you, when the heated rhythm of Salsa

- that feels so like chillies when they touch

your tongue – drifted across the dance floor.

I missed you as this enticing music reached

my jewelled pinned ears.

Where were you? when the luscious sounds of

Sax blues, caught my needy toes

so carefully encased in high dancing shoes.

Where were those slim ‘sun touched’ hands that would

reach to twirl me to the dance floor.

Where was the graceful dancer, whose gentle persuasion

could spin me like a whirlpool, making me turn

and sway to the sounds of Latin beats and Bluesy tones.

Tell me, where were those magical eyes,

those sparkling rays of light, that always laughed with me.

Where was that smile, those breathy movements on the dance floor, those feet that could glide and coax

the dancer from my soul…

How my heart wants to dance with you once more,

instead of standing alone when the music calls to me.

I watched the others spin and whirl but my arms were empty,

sadness for your charms that made me feel like sixteen again.

I was never a wallflower but she has found me now,

where were you… when the deliciously heated sound of Salsa reached my ears… where were you?

@ Copyright 2009 Susie Hemingway.

Photo Susie and Hamada –Alex 1986. Wallflower Photo courtesy of Janey Johnson Photos. 2009

*This Poem was Posted On The Day Patrick Swazey Died Of Pancreatic Cancer. He Was A Wonderful Dancer bringing much pleasure to many ladies who saw him in the enchanting film “Dirty Dancing”  So I dedicate this poem to Patrick and to all lovers of dancing . “May Patrick continue to dance in Heaven”

 
“It was a comforting day” you said
skies of blue, white vapoury
scudding clouds lifting the
shimmering colourful kites
to the heavens in breezy skitsy way,
I followed your eyes
I tried to see your soul,
in quiet reverie as no one knows
the heart that pushes down this pain
in a day affirmative that popped
like champagne.

Laughter surrounds you
consuming and capturing this
mere moment but for you a life
so difficult and as fragile
as the bubbles in my glass,
breathe my love, live in mind forever
this sun warmed golden day
of perpetual joy,
paint these brushstrokes
on your heart, for life is now,
this time is ours
as precious and as beautiful
as the stunning mosaic sky.

My cares fluttered like the
swooping of the Kites
free and belonging to the skies,
intrinsic as the white opal swirls of the clouds
tossing my sadness into the wind
so carrying us forward with courage
to yet another day
refreshed and replenished
you glanced at me,
in soft light fading…it was a comforting day.

Copyright@ 2009.
Photo courtesy of Matt Rutherford.

This poem is dedicated to Dianne and Vern West, Nevada, Arkansas USA
for their courage.

Found this quote on  a great blog – I like it a lot.

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.”
Mark Strand.

Calm are the seas we travel now,
the sail is down
how tranquil is the ocean,
we drift past the deserted islands
with their scattered palms and
fallen coconuts,
we lay on the deck, with bronzed
skin and salty mouths
calm are our seas,
the soft magnolia smell of warm breezes
whispers through our hair
all is blue, placid and serene,
I am here with you, for once
essential as the mainstay
Calm are our Seas…

Photo: Personal Oil Painting – somewhere special in Oman.

* N.B. See Comments for Dedication.
@ Copyright Susie Hemingway 2009

I’ve never made a fancy cake
a malt loaf is really me
I can make a lovely cuppa
so I can always have Assam tea,
I can rustle-up a chicken pie
with the shortest crust you’ll ever find
with a tasty bit of gravy too
but I never make tiramisu,
or even glorious meringues that rise
in heavenly peaks that reach the skies!
I’d rather have a drop of gin
and write a little ditty,
I’m getting on a bit you see
but I really don’t need your pity.
I truly like to dance and sing
with music playing in my ears
a duster in my hand,
like I was seventeen again
as I listen to rock-bands!

I like the music blaring out
put on my heels and gad about,
It gets the work done double quick,
then a drop of Gordon’s does the trick.
Pies,Poetry and a pint of Gin
my life’s complete, I dream within
of Para-gliding in sunny climes
but to be quite honest I haven’t time.
I’m busy selecting the brightest hues
of brand new hair colours,
and when I stand in queues
I love to listen to the latest chat,
of pretty girls who admire my hats!
I love to spray the testers too,
such fun to smell like a famous star
with Chanel and Gucci, I’ll go real far…

Never mind the ‘leccy bill, would
love new lipstick, better than pills!
Ah! this ones, the one for me
scarlet red, smooth as can be
will make me feel like twenty three,
Pies, Poetry and a Pint of Gin
to dance down street, new life within.
I spend the days reviewing years
I like to write and think a lot
not much one ,for knitting socks
nor for mowing or removing weeds,
I think I’ll  move overseas!
and sit all day with skirt to knees                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             in deck-chair on sand and feet in sea
with wrinkled face and cigar for me.
I can dance all night in Latin clubs
with swarthy handsome younger coves,
then come home at dawn for a cup of tea,
perhaps… I can learn to water ski?

but really I think I’d rather have…
Pies, Poetry and a Pint of Gin !

Copyright @ Susie Hemingway 2009