Valentine's Day by Christine DePetrillo

Every year I get stuck posting on February 14^th on this blog. Me. The one who doesn’t like Valentine’s Day. The romance writer who spends pages and pages establishing a cozy happily ever after who would rather be at home on her couch than on some romantic Valentine’s Day date. The woman who wants to be loved every day, not just one day in the middle of winter.

Due to the fact that I don’t want to spoil anyone’s holiday – even if it is some sadistic attempt to measure love in candy and flowers and fancy dinners – I’ll just post a romantic poem. How’s that? Okay? Good.

Chance Encounter on a Winter’s Night

Snow flutters on the icy breeze,

winter fairy dust,

white and sparkling

like an Arctic dream

in the black night.

Faces turned toward the sky,

chilled angel kisses

fall on rosy cheeks,

crystallized feathers

fall from the heavens.

All is not lost.

A fire builds

in lonely caverns,

once deserted and dead,

devoid of the rhythmic drum

of human hearts.

Warmth flares,

spills to dead zones,

awakens the primal need

for touch,

for acceptance.

For love. 

Hands reach out

as the white world whirls dizzily.

Contact is made between lonely souls

under the dim glow

of a city streetlight.

Time freezes

like water on asphalt

in the cold of a winter’s night,

But in the tight circle of electric sun,

the right words are exchanged.

Two hearts collide.

Hope your Valentine’s Day is everything you hope it to be.

Toodles,

Chris

www.christinedepetrillo.weebly.com

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Stone of Hope, 2011

I have refrained from posting political messages here, so I hope you allow this one. I was lucky to draw the Martin Luther King weekend for my first 2016 post. I wrote this poem in 2011, have read it on NPR and at many local forums. I want to share it with all the Roses and our readers.

STONE OF HOPE, 2011

Granite statue gazes outward,

seeks proof the dream

continues

                        I have a dream

looks for footprints

on the path to freedom

that one day on the red hills of Georgia

laments ridicule of a president

with the audacity to dream

                        the sons of former slaves

sees a country

broken by religious hatred

and the sons of former slave owners

hears uncivil discord not

peaceful civil disobedience

will be able to sit down together

wonders what happened

to embracing differences

                        at the table of brotherhood.

abandons hope of government

for all people.

                        I had a dream.

Granite statue gazes outward and weeps.

One Night - A Halloween-inspired Poem

Cloaked in black,

the night steals

daylight,

until only shadows

survive.

 

A celestial blanket

unfolds across the sky,

pinpoints of magic,

and wishes,

and dreams.

 

Disguised from the world,

new faces are worn

on the autumn-crisp streets.

Anonymity brings

possibility.

 

One full moon

sees all.

Her white light reaches

through dark branches

to touch the ground.

 

No one can hide

what they were,

what they are,

what they are destined to be,

for the night knows.

 

And she doesn’t forget.

 

Toodles,

Chris

www.christinedepetrillo.weebly.com
www.christymajor.weebly.com

Things I've Learned Along the Way

Today is my sixty-fifth birthday. How can this be when I'm so young? Or so I keep asking myself. Calvin, on the other hand, just smirks and says, "It's been a long time coming, angel." Yeah, like sixty-five years! Golly, just saying it makes my eyeballs twitch. I retired when we married ten years ago, so this birthday milestone does not carry with it the typical yay me, I get to retire hoopla. Although I am a proud carrier of a Medicare card. And when I announced to my doctor during my visit last week that he was getting my virgin Medicare card, the young man blushed. "I just love you and Calvin. I'm telling you, I've got no patients like the two of you."

That was a compliment. Right?

So what have I learned along the way to this milestone? I've learned to love more and judge less. I've learned to embrace the future and cherish the past. I've learned the smartest people are little children. They see the wonders of the world through eyes filled with possibilities instead of boxing things in with jaded expectations. Take a dandelion, for example. A child looks upon it as a thing of beauty and magic. Blow on it and watch what happens. Adults look at the same flower and think weeds.

 

Most importantly I've learned the value of dreams. The ultimate fulfillment one experiences when he or she completes every step toward the attainment of that dream or goal. For me, it was writing and being published. For others, it is getting a college degree or playing professional sports or mastering a musical instrument or dance. All require sacrifice and hard work. All strengthen our souls and enrich our lives.

 

One of my favorite poets is Langston Hughes. I'd like to share his poem regarding dreams:

 

Dreams by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.      

A poem about love by Barbara Edwards

                        Bricks

You said you needed time to sort your feelings out

To understand and decide what love is all about

Stupidly I nodded when you asked me to wait

No matter your decision, it came too late

Love’s glowing scorched my heart...

            Love’s burning teared my eye

To stop the heat that sears my soul

            I’ve built a wall heart high

So my eyes could clear

            I made it thick and wide

Behind cold stone I put myself

            Pressed close enough to hide.

Chin up, feet braced, I have no strength

            To reach

Across that wall another will never breach

Behind my wall I am alone

            In cold unhappy night

And this will be my final poem

            There’s nothing left to write

Barbara Edwards

Visit my website www.barbaraedwards.net