Life and Love

A crown of sonnets. Seven linked sonnets, linked in that the last line of one is repeated as the first line of the next. And, the last line of the last, repeats the first line of the first.

Elementary Love

I carved our names in Lawson’s giant oak,
And jabbed my finger with the final score.
We giggled, then we shared a frosty Coke.
I loved her as I’d never loved before.

And yet, at twelve, what was this love to be,
For how could we know what the years might hold?
Yet as we lounged in shade beneath that tree,
Each dreamed of how our futures might unfold.

We nestle in the dew-kissed grass of morn,
As card’nal’s crisp, bright chirp cuts through the air.
And playfully, my once carved chips adorn
The silken tresses of her raven hair.

Her blue eyes match and stare up at the sky,
I watch with feelings that I can’t deny.

Teen Love

I watch with feelings that I can’t deny
As she walks t’ward me in the setting sun.
Her silhouette against the ev’ning sky
Tells me she’s growing up, this special one.

Although it’s ev’ning here as we embrace,
And crickets sound the knell of shrinking light,
My mind, at peace, drifts off as I retrace
Each step that led to where we are tonight,

And makes me realize that sixteen years
Have changed the little girl that lived next door
Into a gorgeous teen whose smiles and tears
Endear me to this lass that I adore.

As moonlight’s aura swaths us in its glow,
We share a love we never will outgrow.

Marriage

We share a love we never will outgrow,
That’s led us to this wondrous day of days,
When what we do will let the whole world know,
When we hold hands and then recite the ways

We’ll honor, cherish, love, when rich or poor,
And faithfulness we pledge for all our years.
And should some problems come we can’t ignore,
We’ll work them through amidst our hugs and tears.

I gaze into those eyes I’ve known so long,
And she returns my look and clasps my hands.
The lasting love we’ve shared remains so strong,
It’s symbolized by two small golden bands.

At question’s end she speaks her strong, “I do.”
I smile at her and whisper, “I love you.”

Children

I smile at her and whisper, “I love you,”
And kiss a sweat-drenched, pain-contorted cheek.
I try to share in what she’s going through,
And pray that I’ll be strong where she is weak.

“It’s time,” she said, about two hours ago,
A race against the clock ‘midst pain and groans.
But in that pain resides a dazzling glow,
For soon we’ll have a child from seeds we’ve sown.

A gasping breath, she pushes and she strains,
“One more!” rings out, “and then you’ll have a son.”
And then once more her face contorts in pain,
Our son is born, and mom’s ordeal is done.

We hug and watch the bundle we adore,
While won’dring what the future holds in store.

Middle Age

While won’dring what the future holds in store,
When goos and giggles turn to sighs and tears,
And burps and rolling eyes and, “Mom, he swore!”
Force us, the parent police to interfere.

So gramps and grams just watch us with a smile,
While hearing words they spoke so long ago.
They somehow knew that it would take a while
To learn the things that we would have to know.

But navels pierced and tattooed hips aside,
And broken bones, we all somehow survived.
We look at each of them with boundless pride,
As empty nesting days at last arrived.

Defined as mom and dad for all this time,
The mirror says we’re slightly past our prime.

Retirement

The mirror says we’re slightly past our prime,
The mind, howe’er is as it was back then.
We’re now much more aware of steeple’s chime,
And sometimes wish that we were young again.

A summer stroll as we walk hand in hand,
We talk of beauty and the years gone by.
That time has helped us grow and understand,
Although we are not nimble nor as spry.

But like the bird whose song we recognize,
Whose instincts from within and from without
Are like what’s made us just a bit more wise,
Than when we were so young and filled with doubt.

A smile, a squeeze, a gentle warming touch,
Those precious things say I love you so much.

Old Age

Those precious things say I love you so much,
Rich memories that come so often now,
Of joys and sorrows, warming hugs and such,
As much as fading intellect allows.

While standing in the dew-kissed grass of morn,
And tracing chiseled words with age-dimmed eyes,
A small, stooped man looks lonely and forlorn,
As one more time he whispers sad goodbyes.

A breath, a sigh, he turns to face the day,
One last look back, his tears a silent plea.
And I, his first-born child, can only say,
“I love you dad, and now come home with me.”

And there he says, as we two share a Coke,
“I carved our names in Lawson’s giant oak.”