Gardener’s Pledge

whether basking ineasy-time golden sunor shivering intough-time driving rain,every day I'll faithfully nurturethe garden that is your soul plantingan assortment ofsurprises and discoveriesthat makes life an adventure fertilizingwith a blend ofattention and kindnessthat forever deepens our bond wateringthose feisty flowersthat blossom in your heart growingmoments of joythat stand strongagainst the winds of change may my …

May Love

to you may new love ever flowfrom people you already knowand make you smile while stoking joythat beams your inner girl or boy what piques your curiosity?inspires your creativity?whatever schtick might be your boatmay bold love always make it float in quiet moments of self-talkor when you’re on a nature walkif dancing solo is your …

Heart-hearth, Soul-sun

open the heavy, creaking door of your heart-hearth to me and I'll gently and patiently blow on its flickering, struggling flame until it becomes your soul-sun: bright, hot, hungry, strong we'll stoke your heart-hearth with your regrets and fears - all that holds you back from your dreams - and we'll reduce everything to ashes …

Please, Don’t Row Away

I'm struggling to keep my head abovea heaving, roiling sea of emotionswhipped up by a storm ofimpending loss and massive changewhile fear and regret, sharp-toothed,slowly circle upwards from the murk then you appearin the darkness, calling my namerowing a little white boat made of love but you mustn't throw me a line, forthat sugary rope …

You Know that I Am With You

~ for Bingo ~ on a hard plastic chair I waitedin that silent, white-walled little roomfinally the door opened andhe brought you back to me -leg partly shaved, catheter attached -and placed you in my loving armsthough deaf and blindyou wagged your tailfor the very last time'cuz you knew that I was with you then …

The Ultimate Sweetener

the ultimate sweetener, I am -but you won’t find meripening in sugarcane fields,living in lush ripe fruit,dripping in honeyed beehives, orcrystallizing in research labs -because I, the sweetestsubstance in the Universe,exist someplace else altogether… I take many forms:unconditional love, gentle toucheskind remarks, consistent effortpaying attention, chivalrous actsthoughtful gifts, and little things I am the kindness …

Milk and Silence

~ for Bingo ~ what do you see, dear little Bingothrough eyes full of milk?once dark and shinynow white and hazyeyes that into spaceeyes that obscure your souleyes that search the carpet in vainfor undropped biscuits? what do you hear withears full of silence?once perky and alertnow useless and deafears that function no moreears that …

Master of Touch and Flow

Photo: Dad and Jim (his pet crow) at the water pump, early 1940s ~ for Richard Bedford Bennett ~ a Depression-era prairie child, you touched castles made of sand and grew up humbly on the land playing with quirky homemade toys when big-sky sunsets and sunrises pierced the distant flat horizons and phantom prairie winds …

It’s Your Day, Mom!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!With Love and Gratitude! well Dad, he calls you Marillynbut I just call you Momand to your now-grown grandchildrenit's Nana you've becomeback when I was a naughty boyI'd drive you 'round the bendyou'd spank me with that wooden spoonbut love me to the endtoday and every other dayI hope you'll feel admiredI …

Blue Skies and Sunshine

~ for Diane Hudson ~ They gave you blue skies Sunshine Opportunity and love Unlimited Now God's giving them blue skies Sunshine Togetherness and peace Eternal Love to your Dad Love to your Mom Peace be with their friends With your family And with you - Paul Raworth Bennett Image credit: Tim Hill (Pixabay)

She Sings My Body Electric

~~ for lovers everywhere ~~ she sang my body electric whenthat frosty January daybefore she slowly walked awayshe gave her phone number to meand to a date she did agree! two teenagers, we rode the bus -so many things we did discuss! I surely hoped in two weeks’ timeshe'd be my first real Valentine she …

Swimming Lessons

having almost drowned inseductive, opaque pools oftoxic relationshipsstumbling throughjungles of codependencyI feared I could no longer swim desperate for a way outI stumbled throughdark thickets of uncertaintyfound an icyriver of avoidancedonned a fear preserverplunged in andfloated downstream pastmissed opportunities until one daythe forest released its gripmy river of avoidance endedand I met you you beckoned …

El Diablo, Tailor of White Curtains

my eyes closed, and thenafter minutes, or maybe hoursfrom deep within my silent mindfrom behind gossamer, silken curtains the colour of fallen snow...faded by the yearsshe reappearedand her heavenly gazecaressed my weary souland her velvet embracewrapped me in anticipationand she drew me towards herand we joined, delightfully, once again my eyes opened, and aloneupon my …

The Birds of Aleppo

by Paul Raworth Bennett ~~~ a tale of hope, for the people of Aleppo ~~~ Before the summer of 2011, thousands of different songbirds - swallows, warblers, wrens, chickadees, nuthatches - would soothe and serenade the citizens of Aleppo, a Syrian city of almost 5 million. And while the sun twice daily splashed yellow and …

A Love Sestina

~~ A Love Sestina ~~ the warmth of your sweet love does fill my yearning heart it burns within our kiss and sparkles in your smile such that the flow of time is gently put on hold together we will hold a crucible of love we'll stir it over time and forge a common heart …

The Man I Admire

🙂 To hear this poem, use the player below. 🙂 by Paul Raworth Bennett I'm a middle-aged man who has learned over time Just what makes people tick, their rhythm and rhyme More than anyone else there’s a man I admire So I thought I’d describe him in case you inquire Well the first thing …

Anticipation

🙂 To hear this poem, use the player below 🙂 Anticipationby Paul Raworth Bennett brown glassy eyesthe unblinking gazeof adorationof infinite trustof pure til-death-do-us-part black button nosemoist, ready, twitching(just a little) pink tongue, spring-loadedwith a fusillade of kisses(and barely visible) eighteen pounds ofwarm, woolly,buff-coloured lovequietly perched atopfour floppy legs leaning forwardprimed for actionwaiting for the …

Ready and Waiting

I’ve known some lovely women o’er the yearsHad ups and downs enough to surely knowMy earnest heart’s had lots of time to growWell-tempered, it's known happy times and tearsMy life is almost always filled with joyHowever what I’m missing is a mateI’m trying to be a patient man and waitShe doesn’t have to be Helen …

Reunited

and then, atop a mess of soaked Egyptian cotton while water trickled from an overturned bedside vase as if savoring a cool spring after a week lost in the Sahara Remy and Anäis devoured each other playing each other's bodies like musical instruments - he was the sax, she the violin - until their harmonics …

ElderLove

when I think back upon the years it always fills my eyes with tears what luck we had to find a love as pure as from the skies above the day won't come that I'll forget the summer camp where we first met and how from such a fumbled kiss grew 60 years of wedded …