Spring had come
to an end. The maple,
finally, in leafy shadows spread.
We nestled by root and trunk
looked into each others eyes,
felt salty and got drunk
with dreams, flowing
from the seeds .
“Come hither,” she said
beckoned with her finger, once.
I caught her magic.
She touched my lips.
Lit the fire of my need.
Our youth, in a breath,
was suddenly shed.
Our eyes caught
as her finger left
its salty taste
upon my tongue.
She took my finger,
never released my stare
tasted the salt
upon the tip that lingered there.
Then, as hands entwined,
shared pulse, electricity --
sweet and strong beneath the tree.
The distance ‘tween her face and mine -- infinite.
In the travels toward one another,
ripened in wisdom as we aged.
We leaned forward to receive:
our first blessing
sip of this fine wine.
Lips met in a chaste soft kiss.
Could we let it stop at just this?
Tongues brave
trembling with a wish
touched tip to soft yielding tip.
Our bodies contained
within their realms
broke past all the guardians
posted at the border lands.
I felt the heat of summer come
through our hands
spread ‘cross me
in ways it would take
years to understand.
But, I knew
this kiss
would never end.
Now, when she is
but, memory’s dream,
now, when I am
no longer a young man,
I see a maple flush and green
spring is done and summer close
at hand. Suddenly,
upon a breeze,
the kiss comes again
across my lips. I feel
I should slip to my knees and pray.
Give thanks
we once were
met
on that first summer day.
10:38 PM
09-03-08
Alexandria, VA
Author notes
Image : www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-woodland-heritage_trees-mottisfont_plane-gallery_picture
This is one, when I read it to the audience should leave a moment of silence before the applause.
In a list
A contest entry
- What Is A Kiss by nevadapoet.
700 points, ended September 8, 2008, 50 entries
Bronze trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think, what it makes you feel, how you are moved.
Comments
1 - 40 of 40
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Oh man, my friend "Suddenly,
upon a breeze,
the kiss comes again
across my lips. I feel
I should slip to my knees and pray.
" this holds great impact for me jsut now...how beautifully written..how evocative...how simply I surrender to my own memory.
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This was written to evoke the memory. I see I have succeeded. I could ask for no finer compliment.
Love, Tom B.
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AWESOME
I thought I had read the best of the best and then I read this!!!! What a joyful glance at a memory that still plays on and on. This is a strong, powerful write with beautiful flow and imagery. I feel as if I have been kissed by your words...thank you for sharing this gifted write for a perfect entry for my first contest. It was all my pleasure to read.
Nevadapoet
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Thanks for the bronze. The hardest thing in this piece was to keep it simple and innocent. I am glad you enjoyed my simple words and plain images. Your comment about be kissed by my words, I take as a high compliment. May I always do so well.
Love, Tom B.
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tomisb:
This my dear friend is heartwarming;
melodies that play every inch of one's heart.....
The sincerity in this is wonderful and breathtaking.....
I truly enjoyed reading this piece.....
Blessed be always,
your friend forever,
AngelicMistress...Tanya
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Tanya --
you are such a romantic. (Hannah has passed and we were rained upon but not as bad as some and my sump pump took care of the rest.) I wanted to capture the innocence, the joy, the tension and the way we are changed when truly touched. I am glad you caught this. I am sure you enjoyed the bower tale.
Love, Tom B.
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Wonderful sentiments you express so well in these lines - lovely picture and poem to go with it. Memories never forgotten, that kiss one can relive time and time again - lives on forever to cherish and love.
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Thanks for sharing your joy. I hope I reawoke many memories.
Love, Tom B.
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Like a lot of your poems, this one is really sweet and heartwarming. I like how you show the gentle cascade of love and the way it goes. Or lestways, how it goes in the happiest of circumstances. We all don't get such beautiful beginnings but they are out there.
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Everyone should have a chance of the blessings and magic of innocence and the beauty of love is no matter how wise we become, in the face of love we are transformed to innocents.
I love to create these moments. When I was in college, I would take all the time needed to create moments like these if possible. As you can imagine, I had a reputation. Most of the men never understood it.
Love, Tom B.
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I felt the heat of summer come
through our hands
spread ‘cross me
in ways it would take
years to understand.
But, I knew
this kiss
would never end.
My goodness, I believe I even blushed, reading this!
WONDERFUL ENTRY, you're gonna go far with this one, my dearest Guru friend.
Tasty.
jin
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This captures the romantic side of me. I enjoy capturing the transformation of innocence without it being sullied by cruelty or other crimes to the spirit.
Love, Tom B.
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Superb
A very fine write indeed. You've expressed yourself quite well. Thanks for sharing this one with us. Again, well done. -
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Narrative poems are always tricky and this still needs trimming. I work on it every now and then. Thanks for enjoying the journey.
Peace & Light,
Tom B.
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A very different and beautiful take and description. Soft and wonderful poetry.
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I admit to being a shameless romantic. I wanted to capture the innocence of the first kiss. I admit when I was in college I tried to create scenerios like this and succeeded far more often than most people should. But, I was young, crazy and caught in my own madness.
Peace & Light,
Tom B.
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Quite beautiful words,memories as this are truly eternal,ones we can return to again and again
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You know the memories we return to say an awful lot about who we are and the life we have created. Thanks for enjoying this simple poem.
Peace & Light,
Tom B.
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VERY GOOD
A very well written poem - recollection of youthful love later in life rekindled by the maple tree under which the beloved was first kissed. It seems sweeter than the real experience itself. Liked it very much.
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Thank you for the compliment. You are correct, memory's filters often make sweeter the moments of bliss.
Peace & Light,
Tom B. -
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tomisb
What happened at a particular time becomes timeless.
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The simple treasure of lips touch the first time.
Sigh...
It's a moment of whimsical mystery.
You have touched upon this most intimate kiss with incocents felt from youth.
You are right in saying
Suddenly,
upon a breeze,
the kiss comes again
across my lips. I feel
I should slip to my knees and pray.
Give thanks
It's truly these sweet memories that make us who we are,who we were and how to capture that softness again,as we grow and lose the beauty while living in grown up worlds.
Tears sprung to my eyes as this hopeless romantic read.
Again i learn to touch upon the little moments.
hugs
and
love
~Lisa~
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It is the sweetness of a first kiss and the way we respond to the moment and the memory that makes a large statement about who we are.
Love, Tom B.
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All narrative poetry should be this potent...
wrapping a moment around a scene, a season
unrepeated, then rousing the conscious back
to present while the taste of the moment stays
...imprints upon both: writer and respondent.
What makes this write leave an even larger
impression upon me is that it is centered in
a kiss. Kisses are magic to me and so, I
personally respond to descriptions that can
come close to disclosing such wondrous feelings.
Blue
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I am honored. You are giving away secrets.
This was a gift. It wrote itself from the middle out. I am still trimming and fine tuning in places.
Thanks for catching the construction so clearly. So much of what makes any narrative poem work is:1. Bringing the reader quickly into the setting; 2. Haveing the point of the poem become visible quickly almost as if the reader had decided what it should be; 3. Sharp and concise visuals so it all lives for the reader. 4. an ending that allows the reader to have resolution without them feeling they are being told what it means.
Again my thanks for stopping by.
Love, Tom B.
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this is gorgeous. never have i written a description of a kiss that captured its pure, precious, life-altering nature so precisely. you've pinned the essence to the page with the delicacy and care of a young girl, pinning a dried violet in her diary. i have had a few blissful kisses in my limited time, but never have i been able to preserve or portray the beauty and truth of any of them as you have here. i admire your artistic portrayal of lust, longing, and time suspended. how do you do it?
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This took a lot for me to find the spark to strike the fire. Second, I wrote a lot of what felt to be prosaic poetry or vice a versa. I look at it as a process of distillation. I had a vision of her saying, "Come hither," then, of the kissing of fingers. Still, I had to walk through my life and capture the feeling of those times when its right, the tension and fear that mingled with innocence when I was very young. It took being terribly honest with myself, putting my sensations under a microscope. The rest, I guess, practice.
One thing I have learned over the years, you cannot emphasize feelings. You must portray them with as much clarity as possible, show the setting sharply, then pray what ignites them in you is similar to what ignites them in enough other people that you have captured something universal. Everything else becomes purple prose or maudlin. I have read the masters, Baudelaire, Rambeau, Dylan Thomas, Burns, Browning, Bennett, Neruda. Their language, no matter how rich, is tight, percise, incisive and even when playful a dance of images that touch our heart and awaken our memories.
In the end, I prayed. I wanted to catch as many people's dreams with what I know to be real in truth.
Thank you for taking the time to share how it touched you.
Love,
Tom B.
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OMG...This was such a dramatic expression of a kiss.
The sweetness, innocence and underlying lust was such a pleasurable read. It does bring back memories of the wonderful times in life that stays in our memory banks.
Thank you for sharing...and good luck.
Much love
Nor
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When we are present to the moment and experience our experience, all touch becomes sacred and a kiss -- an awakening.
I am glad to hear, but would only be surprised if they did not, such things live in your cells.
Love
Tom B.
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Better
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isn't it magical when the simple act of touching lips can open up an entire universe right before our eyes? This is a memory for you, a beautiful and reflective poem for us. Thank you. Love, Lane
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When we are present to the moment, touch is sacred, a kiss a wonder. I wanted this one to catch the pulse and beat that courses free in a moment of a dream such as this.
Love, Tom B.
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I do like how when reading your words the images dance around in my head. Thank you for bringing back the memories of that first kiss, sooo damn long ago.
Juls
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There are memories, when they arise, that are relived as if they had never left. They can be a thousand yesterdays a way and yet feel as if they transpired only but a moment ago.
Love, Tom B.
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A moment of silence isn't good enough; this poem almost made me cry. Its so pure and innocent, so true, so ... heartfelt. I've always wanted a kiss like this. So passionate so well real. I don't think theres anymore of a way to describe this as real.
This didn't just dance into my dreams. This is my dream; though I don't think ever my dreams have done this work justice.
Amazing Tom. Just amazing.
Jordanne
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Learn to listen with your heart and inner eye. Never let it be about weither he cares or should I or shouldn't I. Instead learn to pay attention to the way you tune yourself to the world. Practice trusting yourself. Listen to the subtleties of your feelings. Learn to fly.
Love, Tom B.
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Sigh~
So beautiful this memory is.....
Your poetry once again touches the heart
Lynda
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I went nuts trying to catch this first kiss. The magic, the innocence, the power and how we are forever changed by it. Thanks for the share but here and in private. I knew, you would know, if I caught it.
Love, Tom B.
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Well if they close their eyes and remember their first one then I think there will definitely be a moment of silence. My crit if I may be so bold is whether you need the use of 'land' in the same stanza...seems to me that upon reading it the last line needs only to be 'posted at the border'?I do so enjoy when you make us touch the words and feel the pulse of a kiss in them. C
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Thanks for the help. I, always appeciate it. I am so lost in the poem when I write it. My subjectivity overwhelms my objectivity. This one came in such a rush.
Love, Tom B.
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