So many Songs (homage to memories)

Unmetered Quatrains in an abab rhyme scheme using contemporary punctuation format.

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So Many Songs

Across warm satin softness of your lips

in breaths sweet as rosé summer wine

sings to me a memory that evermore slips

into a world we once shared so divine.

By rhythmic beat of life’s musical lure

an angel’s voice had stolen my heart

before your mic so elegantly demure

your words swept me right from the start.

From there above that dim lit dance floor

no doubt at all I’d too caught your eye

we both knew there’d soon be much more

your songs became mine you can’t deny.

Aglow in bright spotlight I’d first admired you

my universe then melted into warmth blissed

somehow our eyes met and we both knew

it would lead to magic we could not resist.

We’d found a deep yearning place within

conspiring quietly with two willing hearts

that without much resistance we’d begin

a promised tryst assured long ’fore it starts.

Spark’ling stars aligned each time we met

hinted fingers of romance caressed every need

’til a night’s rendezvous I shall never forget

yet never knowing where it all might lead.

As fate would have it you left thereafter

to perform at dance floors long miles away

recalling deep verdant eyes ’n bright laughter

still your soft touch ’n smile within my soul play.

Houstontown we met twice in loving rapport

bath side ’n in bed and at your mother’s place

in a Hwy 290 dance hall briefly just once more

my heart dances recalling your wondrous grace.

I’ll never forget you or vibrant passion we shared

begun in a West Texas town fond memories bring

the joy I’d found back then when you once cared

so many songs unsung I’ll never hear you sing.

Richard W. Jenkins

    © 20 Jan 2023

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Author's Note

Photo: From personal files.

Please, feel free to offer whatever you believe will improve my skills and/or this composition. Helpful critique is always welcomed and appreciated … it's one of the many ways we learn. ✍🏼

Reviews

[Susan 🦋]

I feel, as if, I am eavesdropping into a very private memory. So May Songs is beautifully composed. The shared love and loss are palpable. One line breathes into the next. Hope fades into sadness... forever unsung. I think for men, these memories are cherished and enjoyed. I think for me, my heart would never heal. Just some thoughts this Sunday morning as I'm watching the snow fall. The woman in the image is stunning.

[Richard🖌]

Hello, Susan Dear 🥀

Here's hoping your cool, windy Wisconsin day bodes thee well 'neath sun's warming caresses.
I thought you might appreciate the (rare for me) stripped of punctuation and unmetered format … which, I know tugs at the flow in places. Still, not bad for a piece with minimal effort put into it.
I suppose the memory has been private by virtue of the fact I've not shared it until now … you know, how things sometimes just seem to appear from the ether for no apparent reason.
For me, sadness has kept cherishing and enjoying the memory flat; but, it still haunts occasionally, and I usually put it in the abstract. This time, writing about it has been cathartic, like burning a bridge that's been crumbling far too long.
The picture is of Her; yes, she was stunning … many years ago.

Thank you, Dear Susan, for sharing a bit of waning nostalgia with me! ⁓ Richard 🍂

[Robert Trakofler]

I read this because I had been working on a poem about music and it caught my eye. This poem comes across much better for me, read aloud. it is so strange how certain poems lend themselves to this and others not! this is not a critique but an observation I found the lines...
somehow our eyes met and we both knew
it would lead to magic we couldn’t resist.
sounded better saying, "could not resist"

my poem is most similar in the last stanza's remarks I really liked the sentiments you placed in this penning good sir:)

[Richard🖌]

Hi, Mate!

What better than when a fellow poet not only relates with one of my writings in such inspiring ways, but does so with appreciation and helpful critique … which I wholly concur with and have, therefore, edited.

Thank you ever-so sincerely, Syr Robert … I shall look for your musically romantic poem! ⁓ Richard🖌

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

How romantic
I love a good romantic story fiction or non fiction the latter is nicer I do think
Excuse me for saying but why not write a book on this romance or a short story
Sorry if this offends
I think I’d read it too
Love the poem and the beautiful pic too
How special you have such a sweet memory of a time in ones life

[Richard🖌]

Thank you ever-so gratefully, Juile 🌺

I'm right there with you on the romantic side of a story; especially, those that ever touch one's heart.
I don't think you'd offend me, Julie, not for a shiny new penny. As for the book, it would tell far too much, because I know I'd leave no detail unrevealed once I got into it … I know me too well. ; )

I'm thrilled you love anything from me … the picture is actually Her.
Big hugs! ⁓ Richard🍃

[lightsong]

Before anything I want to speak of the photo, in one word GORGEOUS, unfortunately this kind of beauty is now rare, where true femininity glows like the gentle stars of heaven, now I also want to thank You greatly for the word "demure", some words hit more that others, this is the kind of word that describes a true woman and a word I've been looking for, so now it is saved for a next poem :>, also the last two lines are amazing to me, in the far past I used to think of the beautiful songs I wouldn't hear if I died lol...

Sorry if I spoke more of the photo than your romantic lovely poem, but You know how sometimes things being shadowed not because they are less beautiful, but because they are behind the highlight absorbing and basking in the real muse.

[Richard🖌]

It's said, "Beauty's in the eye of the beholder."

In this instance it was in her every fiber all the way through to her brilliant soul … alas, though heaven arrives for awhile, somethings just aren't ultimately in the cards we're dealt.

Ghounwah Dear, I thank you ever-so warmly and gratefully for sharing this bit of personal poetic history with me.
Warmest hugs! ⁓ Richard🖌

[willweb]

That was really nice and something that hits home for me. I love the visions this created and a few memories it brought back into focus. Funny how these dance halls just live on because of those we saw or the one we found. I wrote a series of 3 or 4 pieces about a female club owner on 6th street in Austin and a band member who fell for her.
I like your because it sounds like a song that needs to be sung.

[Richard🖌]

Just sittin' here reading your review 'n listening to Billie Holiday dripping out "All Of Me" on the record player, reading your review … now, "Strange Fruit".
Will,
It's a treat to receive such a relatable interest in one of my poetic memories (Me, Myself and I" 🎶 what a bliss of a voice and personality Billie Holiday was … thank the gods for modern technology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ZT3J1Oa6w&ab_channel=ClassicMoodExperience).
How true you put it, so much of me left back there, and of You (it seems), and I'd love to read "series of 3 or 4 pieces about a female club owner on 6th street in Austin and a band member who fell for her" … right up my alley.

Thanks, my fine bard, for liking and sharing.
Blest be! ⁓ Richard🖌