Lemon Avenue, Flowers and You (softly sad)

Free Verse

Lemon Avenue, Flowers and You

    As I walked along Lemon Avenue,

    I thought of you and love,

    and smelled the sweet scent of flowers in bloom.

    Lee Park, down by Turtle Creek,

    is a lovely place for any free-faring valiant

    to ponder all the voyages of yesterday;

    but, the beauty to me is now ~

    and the closeness of you it seems to bring,

    with its solitude and soft, green grass.

    I watched a cloud and a plane,

    and the leaves became your emerald eyes,

    the wind your golden hair softly caressing my face,

    and the carrier of our gentle embraces.

    Can one love so completely

    as to exchange in a moment,

    the true warmth of a kiss…

    with its irreplaceable memory?

                

    Seclusion from the world is my goal,

    until time and life give its approval of our love.

    I'm so lonesome I could cry sometimes,

    while the world around me

    is bright and glittering.

    I have only to catch a ride

    on a passing laugh,

    but none came my way today.

    Oh, well ...

    there are lots of them around

    ... most anytime.

    It's not that I don't appreciate

    all the nice and beautiful things around me ...

    I cherish them so,

    and they are important.

    It's just that I am so used to

    such a higher realm of happiness

    than the rest of the world has to offer.

    It is the absence of you

    that leaves me lonely and empty now ...

    Until our time comes,

    I'll stroll along Lemon Avenue

    and become lost

    in the sweet scent of flowers,

    and You ~

    "and, I waited for the longest."

    Richard W. Jenkins

                ©2015

                  

            =WINNER=

    Captivating Emotions

               Contest      

Author's Note

Photo compliments of Wikimedia Commons.

Constructive critique, comments, and suggestions are always welcome. : )

Reviews

[Ashwin Shanker]

the beauty to me is now...

I simply loved this line. The beauty of it is infinite. Yes, we human beings can be a flowering too. We can be a flowering when awareness completes. We need no women/men, no possessions, no desires. We just need an inner awakening that we need nothing else to be happy. Then our being simply completes itself with the energy that nature provides, then we flower. We flower and we spread the fragrance back to the eternal consciousness.
And when fragrance spread, bees arrive. Love arrives. It simply comes, nobody has to desire for it. No ones has to crave it from another human being.
Let us be a flower that simply attracts but also enriches the beauty of this world, which is suffering from loneliness.

[Richard🖌]

Thank you most gratefully, Ashwin.
Yes, that is a rather embracing line … it's one of my favorites, too.

Your shared spirit is absolutely spellbinding, My Friend.
Namasté ⁓ Richard : )

[Susan 🦋]

Softly sad? Hardly!...let me just hand you my heart right now..Nothing more needs to be said...you summed it all up, " and, I waited for the longest." Missing someone never gets easier.

[Richard🖌]

Oh, Susan!
So, you feel this one more "deeply" than "softly", eh?
Well, considering the depth of your more tender and empathetic nature, that might surely be expected.

What you say is true for me, too! … hugs 'n blessings! ⁓ Richard : )

[Willard Wells]

The romantic heart and soul you have has taken life in your exquisite piece. The flow and word choice enhanced the ideas and message you have presented with your skilled pen.

Thank you for sharing your loving thoughts of love and devotion to the one in your heart.

[Richard🖌]

Willard,
Just to let you know I did not forget your very thoughtful and much enjoyed review; for awhile the site quit notifying me by email.
Your expression of enjoyment and praise for my shared thought, feelings, and emotions is high gratification, indeed, My Friend

Thank you ever-so gratefully! ⁓ Richard

[Dee]

Richard, this is one of my favorite poems. Your words really capture a moment in time. Immediately, I am there in my mind. Lemons are my favorite fruit, and a Lemon Avenue where flowers bloom is a very beautiful image in my mind. I understand how others view lemons, and what a wonderful metaphor of something bittersweet. I really liked how you could sense her presence in the nature that surrounded you. It is as if the two of you were one with nature. I felt very peaceful reading this beautiful poem, there was a feeling of strength in the loneliness, and a feeling of a powerful, dreamy connection between two souls.

[Richard🖌]

Thank you so much, Dee, for your wonderfully detailed, appreciative, and inspiring words in review for this romantic little piece … I feel we have connected.
Warmest hugs to You! ⁓ Richard

[Cryingkate]

i feel a crack forming in my heart
While words start to bleed from the wound
"Besides the Pond" I start
Hearing messages for you.

[Richard🖌]

Blessings to you, Kate!
The way your emotions dance within me gifts a sweetness so sublime.read moreBlessings to you, Kate!
The way your emotions dance within me gifts a sweetness so sublime.
For this, I give warmest, most gracious thanks, Dear Lady-Poet! ⁓ Richard

[Cryingkate]

Thank you . This message got cut off. Would you by chance remember the remaining lines?

[Richard🖌]

Repeat:
"Blessings to you, Kate!
The way your emotions dance within me gifts a sweetness so sublime.
For this, I give warmest, most gracious thanks, Dear Lady-Poet! ⁓ Richard"

[Cryingkate]

Oh My,..... I forgot to fill the ice trays... Oh Dear...

[Cryingkate]

Stop... Don't- Stop.. Don't Stop " :-)

[Richard🖌]

Smiling at your antics.

[Calamityofgin]

Oh darlin...just breathless. So enamored by this and your sweet heart...
nd the leaves became your emerald eyes,
the wind your golden hair softly caressing my face,
and the carrier of our gentle embraces.

Perfection in turn of delightful phrase.

I have only to catch a ride
on a passing laugh,
but none came my way today.

I am so sorry Sir..but you leave me no doubt one will soon find you and your way...i sigh and smile.
Last line..you wait such a while...a kiss on your forhead to ease your bittersweet ache.
You have brightened this cold Ozarks mornin and gals mood with scents of blooms.

Love and respect
Calamity of Jennifer

[Richard🖌]

Thank you so-so very much, Jen, for your wonderfully detailed, appreciative, and inspiring words in review for this romantic little piece … I feel we have connected wonderfully, ever-so deeply and effectively.
My warmest hug to You! ⁓ Richard

[marcus]

This is lovely Richard! The poem takes me on a journey, a sad and melancholy one, that we can all relate to, as we reminisce about lost love. I see how the punctuation and flow is taking you on the stroll, slowing you down in the right places; connecting the personal memories to the universality of the nature that abounds around you. Even the pictures of flowers interspersed helped me to visualize the scents and feelings, enhanced the overall feel. And as I said I find it sad and melancholy, yet at the same time also somehow beautiful and comforting. I liked this merging of different emotions. And it's a stroll down memory lane, but also through a real park. Very enjoyable!

[Richard🖌]

Marcus,
Just to let you know I did not ignore your very thoughtful and enjoyed review, but for awhile the site quit notifying me of the happenings by email.
Yours, one of the best reviews I think I've yet received for this poignantly romantic interlude of poetry.

Thank yiu most gratefully, My Friend! ⁓ Richard

[Jordan]

Constructive critique? How do you critique heart and soul? This is wonderful, in a bittersweet kind of way.

You've done a good job of painting beauty in negative spaces. Normally when someone conveys sadness it just seems artificial. But with this, there's sadness with a hope that the downs will turn to ups. That's human. And that makes this great.

[Richard🖌]

Thank you ever-so kindly and gratefully for your thoughtful comments, your encouraging, understanding, and praising review, My Friend! ⁓ Richard

[PANDORA]

I read your piece, then I read the excellent critique but all I want to do is read it again. The picture you painted with your words were both lovely and so so sad at the same time.

"I have only to catch a ride
on a passing laugh,
but none came my way today."

I loved this part of the stanza.

Thank you for the journey you took me on down Lemon Avenue.

[Richard🖌]

Thank you, Dear Lady-Poet!
How gratifying that you felt like reading this humble little effort more than once … it assures me I did something right for your pleasure and feeling, and that makes me very happy, indeed.
You know? I've always taken a shine to that passage; great minds and all, and gentle hearts.
You are truly welcome, and I'm warmly thankful You walked with me … smiles 'n hugs! ⁓ Richard

[PANDORA]

You have a fan in me for sure. You are really a great writer and I look forward to reading more.

[Richard🖌]

I modestly feel your gracious touch, M'Lady*

[Penlady]

...like Jaycee my favorite lines are also...."but the beauty to me is now and the closeness of you it seems to bring" the poem envelopes...a sweet meandering path I am more alive for having taken...

[Richard🖌]

Um-hm!
Those are among my favorite lines, too, Barbara, you could not have selected anything better, and how it so pleases me you chose this particular poem, too.
Your words embrace like warm honey, and I cannot thank you enough for making the sharing feel so worthwhile … warmest blessings! ⁓ Richard