Featured in this book:
Crisalina L. Munso - Allen R. Hamilton - Lee Kuei-shien -
Aruna Lakra - Annette Marie Smith - Maria Paz Samelo
Kairat Duissenov Parman - Tahera Mannan - Aabha Vatsa
Nayanika Dey - Madhu Jaiswal - Aroop Mitra - Lynn
Mohamed Shady - Fatma Nazzal - Sharmila Pupu Mitra
Concepcion Gurieza Macuto - Manab Manik - Devdas Mairembam
Julieta Asenita - Marvin Tucay Barcia - Appah Amazuo
Selim BOUMERDAS - Julian O'Dea - Novelyn Hufalar
Bruce McClain - Steven Langhorst - Olivera Docevska
Leyla Işık - Jackie Chou - Anna Maria Dall Olio
Lois Marie Harrod - Hussein Habasch - Abhishek Kr. Shandilya
Margaret Saine - Ewa Zelenay - Ali Al Hazmi
Vatsala Radhakeesoon - Babita mam - Susan Julien Larimore
Dr. Lsr Prasad - Geraldine Connolly - Aruna Sri Medipally
Dr. Ashok T. Chakravarthy - Jeannette Camille Bland
Deepak kumar Deydkd - Sujit Yadav - Hilal Karahan
Jaspal Kaur -Dr. Prahallad Satpathy - Jenn Powers
Sudhir Kumar Nanda - MÜESSER YENİAY
Dr. Brajesh Kumar Gupta “Mewadev” - Sundar Rajan
Sherri Levine - Casey Hampton - Ester Prudlo
Mou Majumdar Sarkar - Alok Mishra - Jacqueline Moore
Maria Mazziotti Gillan - Gloria Klinger - Ángela Martín del Burgo
Jatinder Singh (Aulakh) - Jagari Mukherjee - Khédija Gadhoum
Riemke Ensing - Judith Offer - Miao-Yi Tu - Khafiza Egamberdieva
Swati Asheesh Khare - Nazima Kachwalla - Caroline Nazareno-Gabis
Peter Serchuk - Ibrahim Honjo - Diana Raab - Luis Alberto Ambroggio
Vijay P Nair - Tarana Turan Rahimli - Williamsji Maveli - B. S. Tyagi
Karin L. Frank - Surbhi Anand - Chen Hsiu–chen - Dr Usha Sridhar
Rajinder Kaur - Jyotirmaya Thakur - M.S. Rooney - TS Hawkins
Louis E. Bourgeois - Moinak Dutta - Elizabeth Esguerra Castillo
Jakka Pradeep - Swadhin Shaktiprasad - Swapan Kumar Rakshit
Hongying Lim - Annie Newcomer - Mohammed Shamsu-Deen
Emeghara Collins Osinachi - Omar Nassar
Daniel Yohanna Naturalist - Nwigwe Nelson -
Ariyo A Rasheed Adebayo - JoAnna Girard Kelly Poster
Karin L. Frank - Maureen Micah - Martins Deep
Eminence Cletus - Timileyin Gabriel Olajuwon - R. Andy Brayne
Goodwill Thokozane Ndlangamandla - Janice Angella
Alaa Sameh Abd Alhameed - Anil Kumar Panda - Kirti Dwivedi
Dr. Ama'Yo Stephen - Ngozi Olivia Osuoha - Kiragu Warwere
Joy Munde - Abioye Samuel Akored - Abienekpen Osa'etin
Jacob Temidayo Opeyemi - Okoroafor Onyekachi - Abdul Hakīm
Gert Strydom - Hassen Gara - Kolade Malik Ademola
Christian Odinaka Nweke - Dosunmu Joshua Ayooluwa
Ridwan Adedeji Olanrewaju - Jason Cueto - Ketaki Datta
Paromita Mukherjee Ojha - Patrick Cabello Hansel
Anasuya Priyadarshini Pradhan - Purnima Singh
Sravani Singampalli - Abhishek Kumar Shandilya


The FRAGRANCE OF LOVE
by Crisalina L. Munso


First GOD created the world
Bring life throughout the land
Radiance of lights, raindrops fallen
Flower that blooms,
essence of innocence
Smells… Pervade the ground
Age, Maturity… Lovers… Two people vined their vows
Arousing ones desired
A child nourish in the mothers womb
Sweet cares… humming lullaby
In the cradle of the baby not to cry
Godess of beauty in a masquarade face
A child that born in a thorny ways
Sinner or Saint… Saint or Sinners
Walking to where the deepest… the griefing grave
Regrets… Teardrops fallen apart
Condemned… Repenting to the saddest
Agony, fragments of dreams that left behind… Pitty…
Neglecting… Arrogance… Forgeting …
And the Creed unto you…
Come to me all of you who are tired...
And I will give you rest”…
Endless love… May love… May eternal love…


Love that is so divine…
“For GOD loved the world so much that he gave his only son, so that anyone who believe in him shall not perish. But have eternal life “ John 3:16
Outrageous kind of life…
Clean it… Whiteness as of snow
Veracious of love that never lie…
The greatest love of all… May…
Everlasting Love…
The fragrance of may love…
May eternal love for… YOU…




It's You
by Allen R. Hamilton


Perhaps it's how you touch me, with the softness in your eyes,
Or how your gentle spirit, calmly lifts my sad disguise.
It could simply be each whisper, one more precious than the last,
or how I seem to love you more, with each moment that has passed.
I know it's partly seeing you, each morning when I wake,
and feeling that you're with me, every sleeping breath I take.
Believing you believe in me, helps strengthen how I feel, 
and each heartbeat that I have, confirms this love is real.
Quite possibly It's every dream,of how our life will be,
while we share it with each other, It's forever that I see.
..And as forever starts for us, each day that we go through,
is longer than I needed, to realize IT'S YOU!!



Love Song From The Sea
by Lee Kuei-shien



The sea has been enquiring
the emotion of the land
to get response by the rocks.
The waves sometimes rush
sometimes retreat quickly
always embrace the curved coast
while sing an exciting love song
in sputtering
to the silent land.
The land accumulates the feelings in mind
to prepare a volcanic eruption,
a presentation of most flaming hot.



Lone Star...
by Aruna Lakra



My eyes fixed upon the beatitude of the sky 
Searching you my love amongst the stars so high
Stolen were you by the angels band
Who made you a lone star for my dreamland
Celebrating our love is my only concert
In the starry night where the fireflies flirt
My soul rejoices in the heavenly raptures
Blossoming me into passionate pastures
Day and night my heart yearns for you
Refreshing the moments you in me grew
The moon and the clouds go hiding beneath the sky 
To show me a glance of your twinkling eyes 
Your luminary presence kindles my avenues of life
Sadness and evil you have armoured with delight




Red Riding Hood Reminiscing
by Annette Marie Smith


Your fur was soft enough
to butter my greedy hands
with wild abandon embodied
in a flock of red robins whose breasts trembled
with warning but also with music
wild and clear and piercing.
Your fangs looked to be just the thorns
I would impale myself on
were I a thorn bird
looking to sing my penultimate song.
I mythologized you whilst simultaneously
housebreaking you.
And now what have I done
but make a blanket of memories,
a pelt filled with stones
that speak and bear witness
to the listening ears of my bones.




Blowing A Kiss To You
by Maria Paz Samelo
My love is so far away,
Calling him is my only way,
I cannot hug him anyway,
So I blow a kiss and be happy,
 Separated by million miles,
Even if it’s hard all I need is to smile,
Imagining him like a star above,
And blow a kiss to you my love. 
Long distance relationship,
Far away maybe but my love is so deep,
I assure you my sweet honey bee,
I will give you my faithfulness and honesty. 
Sooner we will be together,
And we will be happy forever,
And all I have to do my dear,
Blow a kiss to you far or near.


I Have Fallen In Love
by Kairat Duissenov Parman

Now I have fallen in love
And to know more about it
I loiter day and night
Amid hills and on the grassland,
You may count me for Kozy *
And I shall count you Bayan *
I feel as if I am in love with Korpesh *
I stood for a long time there,
Hoping to see you.

I do not feel offended that you have not come,
But I think what has stopped you
Or what you have been engaged in,
I look at every girl imagining you
My love, my heart forces me so to do.

All my sweet dreams have turned to dust
The mood has gone,
The soul cries and I am angry at everything
I wish to wander through the grassland
Only to find you who to me is lost
I have sipped the cup of patience,
And now can’t not calm down myself 
Nor I can find a way out.

Isn’t it a bitter agony given to the lovers?
I feel as if you stand beside,
But hidden from me and saying,
"If you really are in love,
Rejoice with all of your heart".
I realized
This time I am in a hurry for the event.

If I say so that I have fallen in love
No one may believe in me,
But my life has changed
For I have fallen in love
And to know more about it
I loiter day and night.

Petals in the Wind
by Tahera Mannan
I sent you some petals in a letter
Oh let them fly away
Hear them sing of my love
As they caress the gentle wind
See them dance above your head
Heady with love they carry
Taste the sweetness from them
As they kiss your lips
Smell their erotic perfume
As they glide across the gale
Oh feel, feel the love in your heart
As my petals swirl in the wind.




Love Seeds
by Aabha Vatsa


A dream, naive and flushed with innocence
Yet pure by intent
Waited a while, bursting with hope
To anchor and flourish.


Yet, providence had other plans
Mysterious and gigantic to the core.
Still the dream trudged on
Tired, wounded and shaken.
But just as all was seemingly lost
Love arrived magnificently
Carrying in its robes, precious seeds of love.

Heavens showered incessantly
The tantalizing rain of love
For it was love, deep and passionate
That celebrated the culmination of the dream.

The touch, beyond comprehension
A fulfillment of the heart's soulful desire
Engaged lovingly under the fragrant canopy
Albeit short lived.

But the seeds of love had been planted
And unknowingly they sprouted
One by one
Till a garden bloomed with the most beautiful blossoms.

Today the garden stands as a testimony of that promise
A love so aromatic and precious
Waiting for that chosen wanderer
To exhibit its splendor
And offer the harvest of the love seeds.



You Are...
by Nayanika Dey


You are my heart's home,
You are those reborn rays of light,
Even amidst darkness that roam.
You are the fragrant filled breath,
That my lungs intake
If you are a sin
I'd love to be a sinner,
To perpetrate this sin
And repeat this mistake.
You are my untamed desires,
Perfect present,
And priceless morrows,
For whom I'd strip
My instincts bare.
You are the blissful sparks
To my endless beginnings
You are my mindful obsession,
Bordered with heartfelt devotion.



Feeling The Peace
by Madhu Jaiswal


The ribbon of our love is woven around me.
Its deep driven in the emphasis​ of we.
The heart knows no bounds for the affection we share.
May come any mayhem lest I care.
Emotions crystallized in my bosom trickle and gets bare.
Whenever I find thee in dire situation thy fare.
The sky starts pouring as millions​ of thoughts echo in my mind.
I smile coyly as the sweet memories rewind.
The pitter patter of rain falling on the roof.
The drizzling drops confining, making me aloof.
Inhaling the earthy smell of the rain soaked night.
With you in my thoughts, everything seems upright.
Soaked in the intoxicating aroma, my soul experiences the bliss.
Endearing tranquil moment of feeling the peace.




The Kiss
by Aroop Mitra
(for Sandra)


The sleek cameo shadow peers across the granite terrace
And then I seemed to hear steps oscillate


Between taps and silence ,an eerier phenomena
Unheard before,so I put down the steaming latte


And mingled with moonlit dappled leaves
A muted humming throbs veins with fire


And finally , this vision --- her lips tremulous
Our gazes fused , her mascara lined her eyes


Aquamarine waves slopped and splashed
A meeting of conjured destinies


Sandra's face suffused with an indefinable aura
Live loaves to lips ,heat overcame their fused zones




DO
by Lynn

Let go!
Not love,
Expectations.
Hold tight,
Those dreams
Fantasies
Look
My innocence
Disturbed soul
See
The wasted self
Flattered beauty
Disposed cabbage
Forgive me
Please
Do.
Feel
The tears
Pain
The blindness
You were
A pillar of strength
In silence
In your arms
Like home
Warm and comfy
Secure it felt
Can I stay?
One more time
With you?
Just one time?
Let it go
Please
Do.
Ignorant I was
Proud
My lips
Talked arrogantly
Tears and wishes
I should have
Listened
Heeded
Acted on your warnings
Can I..
Make you
Whole again?
Mend your heart
Give you solace,
Please let me in
One more time
Please
Do.
. . . . . . . . . .

Have you been in love
Did it end with a heartbreak
if not, lucky you.
- Deborah Waters
Wound
by Mohamed Shady

Once upon a wound..
A talkative vein.. murmured the lost tales of an alienated heart..
Last of a long parchment of untold pains..
A teardrop falling from the distant star..
Tendering a hard soul.. whose name is whispered in fear of lust..
Once upon a wound..
You lived.. in a life.. filled with agony..
Filled with..
...
Nothing remains.. but a scar.. tells you existed..
Once upon.. a wound...
Pathways of the soul
by Fatma Nazzal

Ascend to your heights inside me
To you I vowed all smelted clouds of the soul
All those falling dates
All those ripening craves
All those fermenting grapes
I vowed for you
All what the letter has revealed to me
Ascend to your heights inside me
and drink a paradise toast
Embrace the seventy virgins
They are the trippers, floaters, desiring, enjoyable,
and the kneelers over the edge of the words
They are the cautious of falling in free love
They are the longing for timeless and stubborn love
Ascend to your heights inside me
Make love to that idea in their heads
She is the one, they are they many
She is the virgin, they are the temptresses
Attune the letter to the hums of their dances
And play on the fifth string
So that you rise up the devotions of passion
Instilled you are in the ceaseless  
Swimming in the light
Seeing in the mirror of my soul you … me
Ascend to your heights inside me


Love
by Sharmila Pupu Mitra


Love.
A word.
An era.
A Crusade.
Love does not jade!


I hear: love
Is a red rose,
With fragrance
At its core.
Love is the first
Red apple
That is pure lucre.
Love is a serpent.
Genesis.
Love? Or Lust?
No, I just...


Love.
It is a Verb.
It is a Noun...
Love...
That wears a crown
Of thorns.


Love.
The Buddha.
The omniscient.
Love is a crystal mirror.
Mirror that mirrors
The play of 
Light and shadows,
Sky and meadows;
Love is a war.


When the mirror cracks,
Love comes upon one
As an obscure dawn
That is dark,
But holds a promise
Of light.
Love.
A rose,
Fragrant
At its core
But the petals
Sacrificed;
In a cold fire.
Love is a lyre.
Play on the chords
And make music
in the eye of the storm.




Splendor Of Romance
by Concepcion Gurieza Macuto




I look at you like a queen of the night
Beauty that captured my heart like cupid shots an arrow blinded my sight
My heart heavily pumps, uneasiness of thighs
Our splendor of romance gives wonder of beautiful nights
Your wetty red lips, like cotton candy in softness
Like ready to be kiss with tenderness
Your slim body with bulk of chest,
am like a lost butterfly found a nest
Your waving hair flumps by wind, like calling me to come to your side
Your staring looks that meets my eyes inviting my soul to slip inside
Oh! What magic feelings that feels like crazy
Romancing at glance just with barely look
Splendorous feelings never knew I have took
From the essence of loving you, a wondrous I keep in my heart
Love magnificently change my life dearth
You are like salt that flavors my ecstasy
And make me live in a world of fantasy
Love in hearts purify 'till perpetual time
You and me together in a splendorous bliss of life
I need you as you needed me as your guiding light
You are my romance in the winter weary night

. . . . . . . . . .

One thing that I know
no one will get close enough
to leave me broken.

I have my armour,
my pride, my shield, and my sword.
All of which is you.
-Reese Williams Jr






True Love
by Manab Manik

Thy eyes are nice,
Like the stars in the nocturnal skies.
The mild rays they sprinkle,
As the stars at night twinkle.
Thy hair is fair,
That the young guys stare.
How nice to see the loosening of thy hair!
As shining waves' leaping in ringlets fair.
Thy nose is a lovely rose,
Expanding petals in a new pose.
The diamond nose-ring on thy nose glistens,
As our minds the golden dew-drop quietens.
How nice to see thy coral-lips!
That many a young guy seeks.
Thy rosy lips speak in a strange language,
With the hope of spoiling the guys give greedy gaze.
Kashmir's apples are thy cheeks,
To touch and taste the guys make tricks.
Attraction is enhanced as thou smile,
Beauty is in heart, not in thy surface profile.
Indeed thou own a heart and gold,
That a true goldsmith shapes in a new mould.
He loves thee true from his heart's empire,
He loves thee true to lie on thy burning pyre.



I Have Fallen In Love
by Kairat Duissenov Parman


Now I have fallen in love
And to know more about it
I loiter day and night
Amid hills and on the grassland,
You may count me for Kozy *
And I shall count you Bayan *
I feel as if I am in love with Korpesh *
I stood for a long time there,
Hoping to see you.
I do not feel offended that you have not come,
But I think what has stopped you
Or what you have been engaged in,
I look at every girl imagining you
My love, my heart forces me so to do.
All my sweet dreams have turned to dust
The mood has gone,
The soul cries and I am angry at everything
I wish to wander through the grassland
Only to find you who to me is lost
I have sipped the cup of patience,
And now can’t not calm down myself
Nor I can find a way out.
Isn’t it a bitter agony given to the lovers?
I feel as if you stand beside,
But hidden from me and saying,
"If you really are in love,
Rejoice with all of your heart".
I realized
This time I am in a hurry for the event.
If I say so that I have fallen in love
No one may believe in me,
But my life has changed
For I have fallen in love
And to know more about it
I loiter day and night.



Only A Moment
by Devdas Mairembam

Never think! Never think!
Where do the bullets pass through?
Where do the swords strike at?
Just sit by my side O my love!
Just one moment look into my eyes
And me to you.
Pupil of your eye is an ocean to me
This ocean is an eternity for me
You never know! You never know!
I know all the agonies of the pathetic world
But please spare only a moment O my love!
Don't take this as my alienation! my difference!
Don't talk! My restless soul merges to the ocean.
See this blissful moment of silence---
Even the time stops to flee!


Difficult To Forget
by Julieta Asenita



Even though, it's difficult to forget
I shall not easily set the things
To slip out from hand
Love has it's own trend.

You brought sunshineI felt very much fine
It was showing me some direction
As you are seen man of words
and action.

This continued for some more days
I was happy with the ways it moved
You also proved equally to the test
I considered you as best.

But all of a sudden, the wind
changed direction
I was deserted and left alone
I could not digest the change
I felt old in young age.

I struck the old reality
With the hope that you shall be
changed by an Almighty

Our life shall come back
to flower's fragrance
The love may find chance again.
My hopes, shall stand high
And I will be proved right
You shall be once again, my love
As in destiny, I believe.


You Are My Everyhing
by Marvin Tucay Barcia
You are my morning in every day
For you are my coffee that make me sway
Like dancing dandelion in every way
Whispering on air that you’re my everything.
You are my moonlight and stars
Whose love is shinier than gems,
Reflecting the happiness that I’ve found you.
Sometimes you act as a rain
In a cloudy weather my dear
For you hide my pain through thunder and lightning
A paper boat who slowly moves
Where our heart is in there navigating the love
Telling everyone that we are conquerors
Against sadness and boredom.
Your voice is a summertime
Strumming ukulele every time you sing
Your melody of sweetness makes me dance
Expressing that I am yours and you are mine,
Like a treasure each time I hug you
And twenty four carat gold is your lovely kiss,
You coated my heart in richness and happiness
Like the greedy hand of Midas.
Sail me my dear across the world
And tell them that I love you the most.
I am a poet and you are my quill
An emotion that makes me chill.
I love you for what I am
My lady of every lifetime,
I’ll want to dance with you
Till my eyes and music stop.
Untitled
By Appah Amazuo

When am with you
The wind blow away my sorrow
I can't stare my eyes off you
My vegetable love for you will always grow
In any weather condition
My humble heart is captivated
With you, I conquer any temptation
Without you, my whole world is a based
Your character is perfect
Your tone is lovely
Have been blinded tonight
By your romance and sweet melody
You are sent from Above
Indeed, you are my true love.
. . . . . . . . . .
Is it really me?
Am I the reason you cry?
I will try to change.
-Dr Robert Dublin



Love Without Chemistry
by Selim BOUMERDAS

And now, what will I do
She left
Without leaving me any chance
To catch up with her
And now, what should I say
For my ego
With my pride
I find myself alone
To leave all my friends
I find myself alone
With my shadow and my soul
With my memories in my luggage
I do not live, I survive
The sorrow and regret that I hope
Will erode with time
I feel guilty
I did not know how to keep it
Why now
Why these tears, I forget that I am a man
His delirium
How am I going to do?
Yet I liked it
And she left
Without saying anything to me
Isolate the world as a leper
I am like a puppet to whom
It is missing a thread.
Why this abomination
Why this feeling of helplessness
I am, jealous when I see others laughing
Betrayal and lying, that's all I harvested,
It was an unfounded love
We lacked the sincerity
This is the paradox between dream and reality.

A love stay with me
by Novelyn Hufalar
Underneath the darkened sky
Loud thunder can hear far high
Its threatening the rain very hard
Simultaneously my feeling is bad
Bolt of lightning flashing fast
Far can see the sky that's dark
In the night that's giving light
Ranging its anger gives me fright
Chaos in the sky as well my mind
Getting bad and worst my life
Troubles comes how I'll avoid pain?
My thoughts in confusion life is unfair
I cover my cold hand in my face
Why there ain't a perfect place
Flows my cheeks a bitter weeping
Discouraging I won't keep on trying
Scream my heart you won't hear
Filling mind with jealousy and fear
Sweet hopes not a chance till death
A love stay with me till my last breath.

Horizon
by Julian O'Dea
Her level gaze was
my horizon,
her swaying hips
an earthquake
in my mind,
her floating skirts
the sea that retreats
with the tide.

Heaven's Witness
by Bruce McClain
I dip my quill in the inkwell of the evenings sky,
and write endless love notes,
on the hoary bed of clouds that slowly drift by.
The moon and stars are my witness,
this love I ferry, I cannot shake.
For all my dreaming, it has come to pass.
Now I stand before this wondrous hap, in awe I stare,
for this kind of love doth not come every day to me.
Who shall believe me, I am myself amused.
But I shall run and watch this dream unfold
before my eyes, I will follow to the end.
My heart will listen to the ding of chimes,
I pray this love breaks me not in pieces

I Want You Back
by Novelyn Hufalar
A love that binds us together for years
And then things going bad we separate
A love that end our relation in years
You suffer on me its maybe our fate
For days and weeks that were not together
I feel miserable that you are gone
I still love you and you know it better
It makes all difference having someone
I want you back give me another chance
I will work hard to be a better man
I will not hurt you again even once
Love and cherished you my only woman
I will heal the pain I cause I'm sorry
And will love you forever, please forgive me.

Fragrance
by Steven Langhorst
It’s in the lingering of your scent
Long after your presence
I inhale it like elixir addicted to the complexities
A nose of heightening desire
Smouldering sexuality sparks to fire
Ghosting through the air
In the end
all a reminder
that you are not there

Trace
by Mohamed Shady
Your face has a chart..
not to be read.. except by.. he who had experienced you..
tear.. by tear..
Those who claim you..
How come they think.. they can cross your soul..
with the use of satellite, computer and pre-made charts..
with no need of a tracer..
someone who have walked you.. all along..
till the deepest wound..
enough to be capable of seeing you..
blindfolded..

Promise
by Olivera Docevska
The heart promise - never will be calm, 
soul promise - peace will not find,
only intellectual restlessness and rebellion
as a promise and a covenant
for life lonely, of tenderness
and goodness woven.
That damned, beautiful holiness
before everyone is trembling and admiring,
and not touch
let him go without a trace,
I don't want hem.

Out Of Spite Free
by Leyla Işık
Translated by Baki Yiğit


How free you are
Out-of-spite free
I could yet not break
The iron bars inside of me.
I'm enslaved by love,
Maybe by fear
I wrapped up my self in the lonelinesses.
How free you are
Out-of-spite free
In that endless blueness of the sky.
I could yet not unlock
The fetters inside of me.
When ever I felt love
I wrapped up my self in the lonelinesses.
The sun light abandoned me
In the dump well,
And it went a way.
Being un able to leave lonelinesses,
I could not say stop to time,
The time that races against wind.
The hopes inside me rusted and faded.
Oh! You do not know how I miss
Becoming free like you,
Out-of-spite free,
By eluding fear
And leaving lonelinesses in the dump well...

Love on the Edge
by Jackie Chou
With you alone in my arms
the grass is green
the universe unfreezes
winter turns to spring
With you alone in my arms
the stars rain down on me
like silver and gold
and I am rich
without an earthly dime
With you alone in my arms
I no longer hunger or thirst
for you nourish my famished soul
with fruits from heavenly soil
With you alone in my arms
I need no praises
from men of this world
for your smile, your gaze
is all the approval I seek

Groping: The Attack
by Anna Maria Dall Olio
On the floor you found my soul
fallen candles crumbled walls
pots of upset sadness.
Your hands of so skilled a man
suddenly, bravely, strongly
from my soul pruned death
first identified in shouts
later uprooted in despair.

“I Once Loved A Poem More Than A Person”
by Lois Marie Harrod


J. D. McClatchy


And how could I not love it, the poem knowing,
as I did not, what I desired, the moon
slipping into the magnolia like a mourning
dove, the sun coming down on the sea–


while the man had no tongue and was clumsy with a stylus.
But he persevered, scrawling epigrams on his gawky clay,
bringing cream and coffee in the morning and soup


when I was sick. His mouth made odd little movements when I was sullen and his eyes became green rivers in which I learned
to dip. And I knew then that I deserved


him less than the sad bird and the sun,
my man who had no art to say my name.


Lois Marie Harrod

. . . . . . . . . .

is love the endgame?
If not why are we trying?
If so end it now.
- A Misguided Lover (AML)





Gift
by Hussein Habasch
Translated by Muna Zinati


Each night in his loneliness
The heart that has never loved,
Touch me, with the warmth of your affection.
Hear me, as I weave every word I know
And let my emotions speak for themself;
I do not own the richest words you own,
But I can offer you my honesty.
How Exciting Is Your Love?
by Abhishek Kr. Shandilya


My Kayak is by the vortex
I shall worship you to be safe.
It’s big time for me to drawn
I’m so strong to stare you across
Let them learn to live like me.
You create the hon’ble hurricane
I don’t face and will be thrown.
There I share that is done.
You see I sigh, They the void.
My print in dint will be known.




A Common Soul
by Hongying Lim


My friend, I am feeling upset.
Me isn’t the one who owns the most power and right.
Just a common soul, try to survive in this ridiculous world.
I can hear the calling from the other pole.
See those lie and violent and poor
As the same creature of flesh and blood flooded
Frightened tears cutting burning veins inside
My friend, now I hate myself
Not the almighty serve
Immediately could fulfill any sort of needs that you crave
And indeed, I am just an ordinary kind
What I could do, is only here to be with you
To fight still, in this hypocritical world.




Belonging
by Margaret Saine
"Only in dreams we meet and interlock"
-Philip Larkin
I wasn't looking
for anything
and I found you
I’d never belonged
but now can imagine
how I’d want to
belong out of longing
in and out of the fray
So good can you be
so good can I be
with you to myself
And nature
strange and comforting
between you and me


From Adam’s Rib
by Ewa Zelenay
Translated by Graham Crawford


From Adam’s rib
for dissimilarity
for temptation


from him - against him


ready to create
ready to destroy


consistent inconsistently
ordinarily extraordinary


each day opens love like a window
curls up days like paper strips
powders the everyday


tirelessly irons out life
like a Sunday dress
wrapped in a sensuous fur
tests her looks in the mirror of his smile


in the evenings passionately
wipes the shadow from the face
nights in scarlet lipstick
flick on the lights


when bad falling tears – necklace beads
threading tears – rosary beads


his to the end
to the end of the world
Eve


In The Heavy Rain
by Kairat Duissenov Parman


We are again in the heavy rain
We are walking together but here alone
Say please, “You are my destiny?”
Is it possible to ride forever on the same boat?


When I look at your shining eyes
I can’t tear myself away, I stop for a long time
I forget myself and get engrossed
And go on burning in the flame of love


Our umbrella brings us closer
And the autumn rain pours heavily
God units us under one refuge
And the feeling of love caresses us both


You take me along like a log in the flood
Then rest me like a yahont in the blue sea
I yell from there at the top of my voice
“It is the happiest moment of my life”.




A Street Through A Wall
by Ali Al Hazmi


To be tormented by woman in your imagination
a woman created by your visions
from illusions and emotinal pain.
To sleep blissfully on the thorns of her laughter
To see her, with your eyes closed, roaming through the deserts
Of your ruin
To let her weave leisurely, leisurely
the snares of her charm around your neck
to feel the light ealls of her footsteps
coming slowly towards your night
To watch her levity as she goes up like butterflies
towards a bank in the blaze of your bed
To accompany her to the sky,s distant limits
When she passes the feathers of her hand over freckles
climbing the sighs of your chest
To encircle her like a dove
with your arms in binding longing
To cover the hems of her desire
With the unruliness of your horses till the break of dawn.


***


A woman who, carelessly , split up your life dream
into two, halves,
cut with her gaze street
through the wall of your confusion,
hammered the nail of her picture, forcibly, into
the head of your imagination,
a woman who couldn,t leave the walls of your delusion


***


Her only guilt was to smile one dey,
by the sidewalk, at a guy in front of her,
whom you blocked out, unintentionally,
by standing between them.
You kept gazing at her, with a prolonged desire,
You weren't aware that your standing was delaying
a spacious bosom would open its arms in the wind
to take her away from you
after a little while.


Attraction
by Vatsala Radhakeesoon

I had bidden adieu to love
many years back
I thought it wasn’t my cup of tea

But here you are
standing in front of me
You mesmerize my heart
with your inquisitive brown eyes
You captivate my mind
with your logical tactful words
You fly to my soul
with your perfectly crafted written Art

O wise philosophical poet, novelist!
The attraction between us
sustained by the mysterious, mystical
eternal light
has lasted for eons
It has travelled through cycles
of lives and deaths

We are meant
to unite
to be one
to create the future
of a better world again.


My Love Is My Creator...
by Babita mam
He is one
who rejuvenated me from my defunct. 
My love for his is true. 
For he is the one
who sits in my brow..
He made my dreams
so he is the creator for me..
His holiness, 
He is the universe, 
He is the greatest
for me..
So his footprint I carry in my heart always. .
Made me feel I am safe
In the shadow of sweeten dream. 
So thank for the things,
That he gave me
So he is great for me..He is my love


. . . . . . . . . .


I am the greatest
but only second to you
yes, you are the best.
- Deanna Simms


Basil
by Susan Julien Larimore
(In Memory of Donn)


A green, leafy herb
with a pungent scent
soft on my lips
pleasing to my tongue
evokes a garden of images.


A vivid scene plays in my mind at slow speed
you, in the kitchen of our too-white condo
stirring deep red tomato sauce
in the heavy-duty stockpot I gave you
with the generous spoon you gave me
crooning your own happy ending
to some sad country tune.
I saunter in
come to you quietly
touch your thin arm
kiss your salty cheek
swallow your breath
exhale
save you.

If You Ever Come Across A Sad Woman
by Hussein Habasch
Translated by Muna Zinati


If you ever come across a sad woman
Do not say “God be with you”
Do not say: God help you relieve your grief
No... No…
Do not tell her all that
Embrace her with a warm heart
Whisper to her
You are the most beautiful woman in the world
Your eyes are more beautiful than all women's eyes
When you smile
Your flowery smile will open up everywhere
Then you will see
How love will shine through her eyes again
How her spirit will thrive
And how fast she will forget her sorrows.




Before You Come In…..
by Dr. Lsr Prasad


Before you come in, don’t forget to knock the door with your memory stick,
My heart is throbbing in silence, awaiting your gentle touch of magic trick,
It has forgotten its own rhythm and is moving in tandem with your heart beat,
Any delay in your arrival causes panic in the premises of serenity so sweet!


Before you rub my falling pulse with incense of your innocence, please close the door,
You combed the bumpy distance between us with your presence warm and tender!
You tuned my mind keyboard into singing poems of eternal love in its primal sense!
You anointed my body with the perfume of divine thoughts and memories of past tense!


In those dark corners of thought prisons too many echoes collided in haste,
The sleepy prisoners shook their bad dreams off and shrieked in raw taste,
Fireflies clicked cameras like cats with cataract to record the stuck cry in throat,
Neither day's command nor night's timid answer could suppress that lovers' gloat!


Those lovers of convenience are scripting latent promises on sand and water slates,
The owls and nocturnal wanderers shook their heads in sheer disbelief states!
Love, love, infinite, selfless love-' the lovers growled in opposite predicaments,
You go this way and me that way; we can meet somewhere to start arguments!


The blind philosophers gathered around the elephant of love and painted the form,
The deaf mathematicians calculated the weight of love; fell short of zeroes in sum,
The dumb astrologers imagined the Venus of love in a planet, with predictions drum!
The limping medicine men concocted potions to net the elusive love in its charm!


The poets, painters, sculptors, engineers, scribes,
and musicians described love as they saw fit!
But when two charged bodies collide like lightning
what words, echoes, colors can describe it?


Before you go, please close the window, the sea breeze and moonlight may envy me!
While I dream about you, all the stars twinkle and the lone night is my arch-enemy!
The fragrance of your stay and the presence of your left behind shadow sing a lullaby,
I try to collect your memories into my forgotten pockets and look for the final good-bye!


Before you come in, please knock the door, inside I am stitching our memories together!
Before you go, close the windows too, the outside world is anxious to see how we suffer!










A Long Marriage
by Geraldine Connolly

I was the rose and you were the bee.
I was a wolf, you were the bear.
You were the train, I was the tracks.
I was the apple, you were the teeth.
You were the bed, I was the blanket.
I was a riddle, you were the answer.
You were the toast, I was the butter.
I was the hook, you were the fish.
You were the fish, I was the water.
You were the water, I was the lily.


We floated the pond, we soaked in the wind,
soft white against soft dark,
the bones and the flesh,
the midnight feast.
We were the snow falling,
the leaves budding
in afternoon rain.
The fallen, the risen,
the fire and the ash.
Your Song
by Aruna Sri Medipally



My heart is singing your song
My Soul is searching for your call
My body is longing for your touch
My mind is thinking of your presence
Everyone is trying to make me happy
But,no one can make me happy
Nothing makes me joyful and cheerful
Only your words make me so,
always dear wanting.


It Dawns As Usual
by Dr. Ashok T. Chakravarthy


My thoughts often roll back into the past
Ruffle the pages of life’s best and worst part.
Childhood and mother’s love look fascinating
Day-to-day life was amusing and reckoning.
As years rolled on and days faded quickly
Adolescence grabbed the limelight swiftly;
The thirst to quench fickle minded desires
Rocked my heart for short-lived pleasures.
As the right time advanced to set things proper
The dancing tunes and the pleasure-filled years;
Enticed me towards the fragrant petals of love
My world and my life; before ‘love’ I did bow
It seemed, Goddess of Love was not merciful
Snapping my ‘love’ in the flowering stage itself
It sunk me in the ocean of despair and grief
Leaving me astray at the threshold of thriving life.
The greenery bounded curvy village pathways
Which we strolled, chatting about future ways;
And the beautiful and awesome adjoining hills
Erected a cozy love castle in our thoughts mill.
It dawns as usual, leisurely I open the window
I notice school children walk past the meadow;
My every heart beat, my every thought break
Recollect the exciting and ecstatic love-streak.


The Love of Two Trees
by Hussein Habasch
Translated by Muna Zinati


Two trees were madly in love\
The vindictive woodchopper
Cut their trunks off
He took them home
By chance the two trees met in the fire place
They embraced happily
And burned together.


Even If I Wanted To, My Heart
by Jeannette Camille Bland



The Vegus Nerve X
Controls autonomic functions of inner Organs –
Intestines, kidneys, liver, spleen,
Stomach, lungs, colon, and yes,
Heart.
Even if I wanted to, my heart
would not let me stop
Even if I didn't care, my heart
Would not allow me succor.
This Vegus Nerve, Number 10
Evolves early. Its cells
split, collide, multiply and make
Sure that when I
(eventually)
come to meet you
All my heart can do is beat out
An infinite love
On its own.


Exhilarating Exultation
by Deepak kumar Deydkd


How exhilarating thrilling, reckoning saturation!
In new light of crimson sun at the break of dawn-
Wistfulness of a little birdie on prettier summer cloud's sung song
Fetches towering grandeur, awakened by respledant rippling waves along .
Ah! At hand's length a fairer honeyed tale, under shevelled veil!
Unprecedently germinated ; inscribed miracle frankly tells,
'From very start stay in heart, winks for liliac thirst',
An upright placidity ,unbelievable artistic craft of prolific poesy graphic chart.
A deep planted wonder to uncover verisimilitude and vermilion
As the morning gentle breeze soughs the vioable exultation.
Unstoppable time pauses a while to gulp the serenity in greenish blue breast,
Untiring dismayed look scribes unsolicated grace unto Godly rest.
Merrily the merciful momentum on the droplets of dew
Combines a choired announcement to satiate the lust ,anew.




You Are Like A Storm
by Maria Paz Samelo 
Pain is within me,
Pulsating all over my body,
Burning like wildfires,
Discovering my hidden desires.
You are like a storm,
My superman is born,
Exploring the unknown,
From sunrise till dawn.
Can’t control the feeling inside,
Can’t resist without you by my side,
You are like a roller coaster,
Heat bursting like a fever.
Will it last for a lifetime?
Will you be really mine?
Or it will fade away in a flash?
That in my dream anytime it will crash?


Love is a miracle
by Sujit Yadav

A medicine to cure
Feelings the so pure
In passion one adore
A love in heart to store
For affection in one it attire
An affectionate feeling to dire
Always the heart in burning fire


Plays the song to the music on lyre
To adore the passionate feelings to its empire
Love does miracle beyond the transpire
Does it magic above the golden sapphire
Reveals one to the result of its conspire
Love does miracle
Rides cart of the vehicle
Peeps through the spectacle
Reduces all the obstacle
A social bondage to abide
relationship flourish like tide
Where heart opens wide
The feelings of affection in to stride
love spray its fragrance
Save one from the annoyance
Eradicate the violence
Abolishing the chaos to its consequence




Awareness of Night and Love
by Hilal Karahan


1/ Most private moments of nigh
t growing body of love


2/ A dropped odor
scents out the hints of a kiss


3/ Breath carries its wind in pocket
A careless whisper rolls down
from ear lobe to neck well


Skin, prepared to all states of inspiration…


4/ Ex lovers are tangent to
crossing two circles:
matter and color of the skin


That’s why making love is so crowded…


5/ Man, a snake
swallowing its tail end


6/ All is accepted about man
what to have
or not


Night has come to such a place…




Loving Remembrance
By Jaspal Kaur

Your loving remembrance
mingle in my every breath
and heart.
When I trying to slow down it
but I am still melting like
snow in sunlight of your love.
A strong desire
grapple my heart
I am hearing your sweet voice from my soul.


When I watch full moon
it is really looks like
your luminous face
. Your loving remembrance
scatters in wind
it spread aroma in atmosphere.

. . . . . . . . . .

Is Valentines Day
the only day that you care?
Show me all the time.
- Peggy McDougal


Do Not Dwell There
by Dr. Prahallad Satpathy


Don't dwell there
there dwell a frog
who croaks through out the night
and my heart beats for you
don't end your life sinking deep in the lonely darkness of the well


come out of the well and see
how a pond is awaiting for you
with all sorts of water vessels
and flower arrangements


let your body float with the beauty
spread yourself
stretch your body out
there is enough space
Life is no more suffocating


Each one is having two wings to row
In sky's blue water
stars swim and twinkle like fishes
moon is just a phone call away
sun shines sparkle with water


come out of the well
come out of the pond
there are fences all around
form a stream,a river,a sea,an ocean


the more you stretch yourself out
the more spacious you become


no more a frog here and a tortoise there
but a hoards of crocodiles may you accommodate
May your smiles ripple to the shore.




Till The Day After Forever.
by Lynn
Well, that was what you said, wasn't it?
Or was it because in me I had your fruit?
Maybe that was just but a river flowing
Wind blowing
Toothless wolves howling
Flower petals falling
We are failing.
Through the plantations we've crossed
Morning dew numbing our feet
At times, branches tearing our flesh, unknowingly
Through dark and bright,
In sickness and poverty,
Always by each other's side
All persevered hopefully.
Then came these papers from your boss,
Those evil papers number-labelled,
Them that your monstrous boss filled in your account
You became a stranger,
Making merry while cultivating her garden,
You feared no worms in it,
Cold nights you subjected me to
Executive meeting one after the other.
Like a river our vows flowed
Drying the spring of our love,
Broken twigs, falling trees,
Goosebumps and butterflies became fairy tales
Maybe the day after forever was just but a misconception.



First Love, 1994
by Jenn Powers


that late spring day, sun finally warm
the blue evening blowing through trees
ripening for months at first the winter-linger
then green with life—you kissed me so hard
it bled salty-sweet & instead of sorry
you kissed me harder like the breathless riptide
overpowering too much to take
nowhere to put it just swim in it let it
take you


hurry hurry down the muddy driveway softening
from winter & across the night yard to hop into
the vintage truck & under the lilac trees your hand
comes away heated powdery your hand smells like me
cold grass the earth a bit icy hard & twigs from past storms
dig into my arms and legs when I let you inside


we’re the same you say in some ways
& I’m naive ’cause I think you mean the colour of our hair
& our skin & our eyes & the high school we go to
I don’t understand you mean pain
but we gorge on spring nights secret pink lights
on black horizons & that summer too hands everywhere & lips too
spilling into each other onto each other over each other
until it’s too much & twenty years later I can’t tell anymore
if this was first love or just reverie.




Romancing Love
by Sudhir Kumar Nanda
Chivatric love and adventure, legendary tale we know,
Where reality is just an illusion;
Imaginary characters often involved,
Heroic events, or mysterious or hallucination.
Passionate friendship, a degree of physical closeness
But sexual relationship are none or rare
Had it a Western Society , where it often happens
Beyond the relationship , without care.
Falling in love with the best friend is common ,
Which cross from the line of platonic to romantic ;
Lust for sex the highest desire so often ,
Finished of the spiritual love and charismatic.
Often romance is thought to be sex and kiss ,
Where the knowledge of romance is limited
And mistaken the love of friendship and make hiss ,
Eager to do the wrong things , that tempted.
Romance is not a lust or a desire be rest ,
Passionate friendship , O ' LO, romance at best.


Arub
*Arub in Arabic means “Woman who loves her man”
by MÜESSER YENİAY


My love
so that you stay in me
so that you stay


I take you in


I’d like you
to be my body


[without you miserable
without you unfortunate


with you complete
with you prosperous


your humble servant]


My Forgotton Love
by Dr. Brajesh Kumar Gupta “Mewadev”,


Oh! Forgotten love, obliterated with magnetic
I become distant and forgotten
I'm probably not good enough for you
Along with shame and then the tears
With barrels of beers at the corner of a room,
And remind me of the good times
I remember all the places where you and I would go
Every day is the day to God that I pray that love is never forgotten
Oblivion is the state of being completely forgotten, 
There's a pain in my heart that I'm feeling today,
I know you won't remember me in the morning
I hope you never feel forgotten,
When far away an interrupted cry
That perhaps one day, I would see
My heart will race when she comes near in the doleful forgotten world
Somewhere out there is my love.
Good Morning
by Sundar Rajan
A steady rustle in the sweet early morn,
The soft breeze spreads the wondrous aroma,
Awakening me to a pleasant sight,
As he approaches me in his princely gait.
A charming smile fills his suffused face,
Fondly offers the steaming coffee to taste.
Softly, his hand rumples my wavy hair,
His palm envelopes my forehead with care,
Fingers gingerly go to cover my eyes,
Through his fingers I could vividly espy,
His thoughts conveyed through his transfixed gaze,
That works up my heart to a dizzy pace.
To the hot coffee in hand oblivious,
Into each other's arms we swirl together..


Grammar Lessons
by Sherri Levine
When my students ask me how to use the future tense,
I tell them that we use “will”
for a promise or a threat.
I will always love you, for example.
And to make a plan, we use the “present continuous,”
I am divorcing him.
And when they ask about the “simple past,”
He loved me a long time ago . . .
It’s not that simple, I tell them.
There’s certainly nothing perfect about the “present perfect,”
I have loved you since the day I met you.
I ask them,
Does this mean that he stopped loving me?
But loving is a “non-continuous verb,”
Loving, I tell them, is incorrect.
And for the modals?
(Though confused, I know I still have their interest)
I may, I might, I should, I could
keep going, but I won’t.
Instead, I tell them:
Love is full of tenses.


You May Know
by Casey Hampton
The first time I coaxed intimate your lower lip sucking deliberate its tender ripe swell.
Breeze may have brushed those branches, gravity may have tugged that swift river seaward snowpack to tide salts but I'm not certain.
Only I know your lower lip arched my world your warm tongue rain I drank.
I seeded a garden in kisses reaching pearled spine past supple neck I planted twice patient hands broad diligent mouth.
I think there were apples the sun may have been but I'm not certain.
Only I know your mouth, your laugh,
Home

. . . . . . . . . .

Nothing in this world
is more important than you!
You are my water.
- Andfrew Aitken
I Am Proud
by Ester Prudlo
Waiting Waiting
Waiting in the emergency room.
His patience sits beside my pain.
Waiting for my name to be called
his hand touches the back of my neck.
He is there, just there.
The clerk is all business
–insurance card,
driver license... questions... questions,
“Quantify your pain.”
He squeezes my hand. I dial it back, say “Nine.”


His shoulders shelter me as he steers my elbow,
walks me back to the examining room.
I struggle into the skimpy gown. He ties the back.
I shiver on the table and he rubs my feet. Waiting.
The nurse appears, shoos him out.
He kisses my face before she can wheel me away.


At home he wipes up blood and feces,
lifts me from the tub and dries my scared body with a soft warm towel,
tells me I am “one tough lady!”
He puts a bent straw in my teacup,
rummages through the utensil drawer to find my favourite spoon.
After four surgeries, I have no secrets.
His pleasuring fingers find places that doctors have not touched.




I Had A Dream !
By Mou Majumdar Sarkar

Twisting my body left,
Turning my thirsty-self right,
I step down from my bed,
wrapped in your thoughts,
I got up to wet my lips, 
To ease my burning mind.
I dreamt of You whole night!
I dream of You...In daytime and dark night.

I saw You and Me standing near…standing in a dim-lit room,
We lost track of time...as we stood still looking at each,

Your gaze held in mine and I just could not move,
Our eyes spoke on...but our mouth just went dry,
Our minds racing fast,
Our hearts pounding loud,
Our chests heaving high,
Our lips quivering in thirst …to meet just once!
Our bodies growing restless,
Our limbs asking to embrace,
Stronger the urge grew as each passing moment flew...
But Somehow we stood there glued,
Unable to make the first move,

Who will break the ice?
Who will step forward?
Who will hold the other first?
Who will bridge the gap?
Who will ignite the spark and add embers to the fire?

I thought it will be You!
You thought it will be Me!

Standing very near You...Yet the distance seemed a lot,
Your eyes wanting Me… My eyes seeking Yours!



You
by Kairat Duissenov Parman


When I call out, you do not come close
You do not think
I have been suffering from loneliness since long.


Yes! It is true, you are an angel for me,
You have a delightful soul,
I perceive you always like this.


Usually you take care of the zamnoy so carefully
But you do not come near
You do not speak so easily, but I know,
"Patience is glistening gold”.


When you are not near, I talk to your silhouette
She understands me more than you do
You torture me with your answers and this spoils
My mood, but she feeds me with a divine food.You




Intoxicating Beauty
by Alok Mishra
In the shade of your dark and curly hair
Through which come the rays of the sun
Blowing the ripening warm air,
I repose after a long run.
In the whirlpool of your cheeks passionate
Tickling smile stretching her limbs
Compels my conscience delicate
To taste the beads peeping from brims.

The wine dripping from your sunken eyes
Intoxicates my conscience to rest forever
Under the infinite luminous skies
Of your beauty that will fade never.
You Will Not Have ME
by Olivera Docevska
О, Morning, Sun,
intensive fluvial, enchanted black Night ,
you will not have me ...
Wishes , burning Heart, 
and restlessness of mine
You will not have me ...
and Morning Star,
I said,
You, amazing Infinity,
You will not have me ...
nothing less
nothing more,
but at anyway,
as I, I, will have You...
Intuition
by Jacqueline Moore
Love for you has always stood true
From first we met, intuitions knew
“I’d always love you”
You are my sunshine
You are my fresh, brewed coffee
That meets a nose every morn
My soothing, relaxing lotions
My sweet, smelling perfumes
Mostly, I love hearing your enticingly
Charm voice, sounding like a watery storm
Massaging with such passion
All over my body, my heart
A tender, gentle, crushing crush
No! can’t get enough
Come back!
“My Love”
There’s a need of real skills
To survive, live
For only your love, can and does heal
“Love felt”
for you, can’t be seen under a microscope
Can’t see the underlying cause
Reasons
Questions
Why?
Pain keeps piercing, hurting, leaving a breathless breath
Need to breath, cause without you
There will be nothing left
Feelings going fast, like a soul dying of thirst
please hurry, fading fast
I’m not going to last
“ Without you”


It Comes to You Like Grace
by Maria Mazziotti Gillan

That moment, when you open your eyes
and see someone—really see them--
comes to you like grace,
a door flying open between you, and nothing to stop you
from entering or leaving.
What else can you call it but grace,
to see and be seen, and sometimes
these people are already dead
and it's too late to tell them that you understand
and ask if they now know
what you were trying to say
all those years ago
when the right words would not come?

Now that you are already seven years dead,
I realize we knew each other so little,
when we were young,
blinded by love,
but the older we grew, calm settled on us,
our bodies dear and familiar,
In the end it came over us like grace.
We no longer needed words.



It Still Happens
by Gloria Klinger


We hold hands in the woods
when the path is wide enough
two, side by side,
watching for deer, listening
for woodpecker’s hollow tap,
the leaves a yellow crush.


The thrill of new love
is like high school but more -
holding hands, kissing in the park
finding a tree to stand under
twining our hands into each other’s coat.


Fifty years on, the gentle cycle repeats,
teens again with grey-flecked hair.
How the heart steps up
lips reach, thinner now,
but waiting
for the equivalent of an earthquake.


It still happens
every time.
New beginnings feel as old as high school,
as fresh as autumn’s chill.


It Was An August Nightfall
by Ángela Martín del Burgo


It was an August nightfall,
when leaves in their trees
start shivering and sighing,
and so they clear out the warm day
and spring a new freshness.
A group of joyful young men
were crossing the garden around the fountain.
The river rolled up water
and little boats in the shadows
left backwards a silver wake.
Alone along the handrail
I thought of your smile,
which offered paradises yet to be discovered,
and also I thought of your eyes: your eyes
which opened passages
that once I would have believed
as passages belonging only to death.


Trance
By Jatinder Singh (Aulakh)


Harmonious feelings
Of heavenly love
Make me walk
On the miraculous path of
Aromatic alluring dreams


Fatter less love of boundless soul


Enjoying vibrant richness of emotions
Unfolding the abundance of thee love
Nature getting trance
by thee magical ageless presence


Those moments i have spent
Were possessed by lifeless bondage
Now i start breath again
As flower delightfully response to
Slow wind in lukewarm sunlight.


Come to me Such a yellow butterfly
Lost itself in mustard field.
Milky cloud flying in First rain of winter.
How spiritless is a winter.
Birds are passively dreaming
On leafless trees of autumn.
Come to me as dust of fog
And overgrow around me
Perhaps! I couldn't see anything
Ahead of you.


The Vine To The Tree
by Jagari Mukherjee


Thou art a strong, rooted tree,
And I a vine clinging to thee –
I grow ripe and fill with wine
Embracing thy body masculine.


I take my strength from thy form
As thou give me shelter from all storm.
At night, my dark leaves shine for thee
Under the moon reflecting you and me.


Always, always, in a state of embrace,
Thou and I stand in love’s daze.
Through all seasons I cling to thee,
For thou art my love, my rooted tree.


Red
by Khédija Gadhoum


as the red petal drenched in morning dew
curling while descending in resilience
in perfect garlands one petal after another
love awaits the red rainbow far east
in search of blossoming letters
where petals feast in red
in every single corner.
you wish you had not forgotten the fragrance of the living colors.


you awake.
passion unlimited.
as ripe as a wild flower leaning against her senses
beyond the wounds on surfaces made familiar
in crimson embraces of the fleeting seasons.
you return to your angel. again your savior.




If Living Is A Love Saying Without A Point…
by Leyla IŞIK
Translated by Baki Yiğit


Neither mornings are tired
Nor birds
Nor screams in deep oceans are silent.
It's my heart which feels tired,
While there are many things that make my heart heavier,
Heart stops speaking beyond silenced tongue, beloved
Heart is buried far a way
In the land of impossible lovings.
Even if it pours down,
Even if a sere leaf falls off its branch,
It's time for me 
To answer by keeping silent.
Even if I stop speaking, my eyes say.
If living is a love saying without a point...


Your Value
by Olivera Docevska
I read you verse by verse
Through the verses I find myself
with yours lyrics I falling asleep.
Your name is written on my land, 
only I know,
with a value of three thousand verses
of ten thousand poets
at only one lifetime poem ...
and song.
Love Affair
by Riemke Ensing


A given poem from Katherine Mansfield


You wrote the table
was laid
for two
but nobody came
so you dined opposite
a white napkin.


It’s called giving yourself
to life.
Through the window
a quiet branch
has the evening
to itself
also.


Love Is Always A Verb
by Judith Offer


Neither fish nor fowl, nor beast nor boast.
Nothing that could be caged, measured, bought, or profiled.
Electric between palms,
Cricketing over a sundowning porch,
Bending kindly over a hospital bed,
Carrying all the quiet energy of the Universe.
Do not wait for love to be a noun with broad shoulders,
Or worry where it is.
Just use it. All the rest is molecules.




Message
by Miao-Yi Tu
translated by Hsueh-Ming Liao

The “message” that I wrote as dusk fell
Narrates that into water a dog fell.
Behind were there a bunch of guys trying to save it.
Failure belonged successfully to him and kept it from the fate-shore.

The “message” that I wrote as the dark night fell
Have an oil-painting stuck on
Which bears a similarity to Chagall’s hugging
A lover with happiness.
His eyes were winking
So that I coated his confusion with the yellow dyestuff.

Why did I, under the pursuit of time,
Forget to see the star sighing in the dark?
As I tried to withdraw midway each time,
The delicate flower in your heart
Intrudes with slight fragrance
That intoxicates once more me,
Vacillating and staggering like a sailing boat at sea.

A dove, hiding from rain,
Flies to a quiet balcony

Liquid Thoughts
by Margaret Saine
"These fragments I have shored against my ruins"
-T. S. Eliot


Sometimes I can’t feel you
when I’m breathing underwater
and the waves of the tide
throw my hair into my face
in a swirl of blinding algae
that turn into a jungle
of the unsaid
And you are far afield
while liquid thoughts
though long past surging
flow and flower
through the ether
of our minds
Connecting us in
an underwater breathing
a salty sadness
called silence



So Pure Love
By Khafiza Egamberdieva


My patience toppled as a stone in the mountains,
The nerves squeezed to pieces.
After me my “craving”grave cried,
Yearning gone my hand drag.


So beautiful you smiled,
Holding your chin to the palm of love.
You took great care of a heart which gotten cold,
You wish to warm up with your love surround.


This moment probably custom is broken,
One heart raised coffin only.
To funeral I came only one myself,
One strangely so pure love buried.



“My Love”
by Jacqueline Moore
Yes!
I’ll continue to call your name,
like a broken record
Replaying over and over in my brain,
without you my world will never
Be the same.
Oh! How I’ve long to see your sweet face.
For without you my life is filled with emptiness, like a major heart surgery
I’ll confess, like a raisin drying out alone in the hot sizzling sun.
Lonely days continues to drag on, in this old mind alone.
Haven’t been able to formulate a clear thought inside
this mind, brain, heart
Without you, there’s no energy, strength, joy like memories of yesterday,
replayed in the mind once more.
Memory’s fog invades my mind, like that of a rainy, cloudy day, remembering
No happier love, than when we were both so carefree,
riding down a runaway
“Just you and me”
Holding hands, playing in the park throughout the day, till dark
Like two lovebirds fluttering around the sunny, crisp, blue skies, trees above
Relishing in our blissful love!
Wishing to rewind time and say once more
I love you, “My Love “
For without you, there’s nothing more to have hopes of
or even to gain
Just relentless, crushing pain
My love, My love, My love, you are needed


Love
by Swati Asheesh Khare


O sweet love, my sweet love
Please give me your energetic hug
I am still thirsty for love nectar
Come and take me in your shelter


O my love, let me feel your love
We are the doves engage in love
I am hungry for your love bites
Kiss me more and hug me tight


O sweet love, let me sink in your eyes
I want to see the love by your sight
Let me drink the nectar from your lips
O dear love, give me sweet kiss


O dear love, let me feel your magnetic love
Please pour on me your energetic love
I am blind in your enchanting love
Please hold my hand and show me the path


O my love, let me feel this bliss
I never felt too much joy like this
Let me engage in love with you
O my sweet love, I love you


Heavenly Unison.
By Nazima Kachwalla
Draped, Draped in a satin sarong,
Humming melodious love songs,
Accompanied by anxiety,
While smiling quietly.
While we beam at each others sight,
Blushes come pouring in delight,
And we kiss each other's face,
Locked in heavenly embrace,
All virtues shine in my Valentine
Subtly his heart beats with mine,
With that warm touch of thine!
Begins the journey, seeking pleasures divine.
The clock stops in time,
His touch swoons me away,
Amidst chuckles and sweet contentions,
In unison we gleam, with no intervention
Nestled in your loving embrace,
Peaceful and dreamy,
At the end of a perfect night,
The dainty angel and the sturdy knight.


Nirvana in Your Rainbow
by Caroline Nazareno-Gabis
aka Ceri Naz
I’ve been to your rainbows,
And I starve to be lost in there,
Again…
I was bemused of your spectrum,
Gave me arch to bleed
With you, as I drowned
In the psychedelic sea
Of your transmundane glimpses.
After the rain,
I am looped in a waterhole,
I stopped, I saw you in my sky
You become my instant favourite;
Refractions reached me,
I began missing you,
So suddenly.



I stretched my arms,
In a golden pot of silence,
I knew how thousand scarce
I was, in your twenty four hours absence,
And how zillion of nirvanas
You’ve brought me,
When you kissed me,
At the rainbow’s end.


Not Refuted
by Peter Serchuk


I had to forgive her,
broken wheel that I was.
It was spring, then summer.
Our season passed.


Fall brought winds,
early frost, then floods
to unprotected places.
Whatever heart she left me
weathered on.


Ode To Your Eyes
by Ibrahim Honjo


In your eyes the color of blue pearl, Rebecca
red fish swim as rubies
all the way from Jerusalem
this landscape reminds me of
a plantation of lilies in the Netherlands


in your eyes I sometimes see
the promise of a million cracked open skies
in them resting subtle honesty
and dormant sparks of love
that I want to flare up in a blaze of passion


in your eyes waves of the Adriatic waters
in them the white Krka waterfalls
in them the waters of the Danube and Sava reflect
in them, the Plitvice Lakes
Atlantic, Pacific and the mighty Niagara Falls


your eyes exude a propagated smile
the morning dew and summer rain
illuminating the universe
and the infinite rainbows embracing the universe
from your eyes a secret like a bird will rush out


I feel, there will be a cloudburst soon
and I will not be there to stop it
and spare your eyes from filling with tears Rebecca


all this will remain a big secret
upon which the birds daydream in their cages


They dream of your eyes, Rebecca


One With You
by Diana Raab


I want to saturate myself with you
be the sponge for your words


earth to ground you
pores of your skin


elastic stretching you
coat that warms you


scarf kissing your neck
icicle melting in your hand


air that embraces you
space between your shoulders


wall which encircles you
covers that cuddle you


pillow you lie on
phone you answer


voice which soothes you
plate you eat from


eyes you pierce
last one to make love to you


one to smell your final breath
sky which you drift into


and first to carry
you to your final resting place.




The Poem Bodies Make
by Luis Alberto Ambroggio
Translated by Naomi Ayala]
Behold the poem made by the bodies
of gods who love one another;
how they fit together and become whole
in their secret recesses,
the sensual possession
of a divine garden.
Behold it in its clear and firm curves,
soft masterpieces inhabited by fire.
See the lovers’ intertwined legs,
their arms closing around the loving sphere.
Listen to how they knock against each other with the breath
of waves;
heart open, light infusing them;
a giddiness of being singing in heartbeats,
the sky brushing, volcanoes of sweet sweat,
above and below mountains.
Behold the sketch of its endless lines,
the blood-stone, black sun,
the silken passages, unisonous skin.
Come through this poem with its language of touch,
in the bare light of night
stroke the soul behind the eyes,
delight in the ultimate flavor of ripe fruit
and return over again, engrossed,
with love’s force, with thirst and hunger,
with rain, flowers of sunlight, and wind,
with the scent of syllables, to its beauty…
the very poem bodies make.
Your Majesty Call
By Khafiza Egamberdieva


Why you are late, do not come now,
My heart’s khagan, my heart’s sultan.
So my hope broke waiting you,
Now I devote to other.


Why you are late? Didn’t search,
This existence didn’t be within crudeness.
Today I am the strangest unbeloved lover,
Why don’t you come yesterday in my life?


Flowers dropped their leaf which I love,
I’m very tired of beloved sky.
You didn’t come – this is pain, you came this is pain,
Oh, come, no…go, go, my khan!


You’ll go! I wail again,
You’re for me, I’m for you the dearest thought!
I sleep in the loveless bosom every night,
And I’ll be a devote woman!...


Oh, come, no…go, go, my khan!!!

Wings of Fire
by Vijay P Nair
Castle no air,
Wings of fire his desire
Cast around river,
Winks no fourty she aware
Chrysalis in, he a swagger
Butterflying his love a swain
Christened in, she a pen
Passeri her, pantheon at pelted
Courtship in Meadow melted
His crooning how sweet
Her moaning sowed seeds of
Melody ovoerflowed soul, a whimper
Marched no drop of words her
Mount Olympus, on breast his
Laid head, she a Leda while Zeus
Caught eye of white, swapping
That starry skies Swung.......

A Promise To Love.
by Lynn
Just one last time let's look back,
For just a moment let's celebrate all the struggles we pushed through,
All the mumbles of the evil stances they gave,
Let's listen to the whispers of the caves that echoed,
For in them we became the heart of rocks,
It is in them that we ignited the fire that rekindled our love,
Them that gave this fire that not a million blows can't douce.
Through the impossible we made our way passable,
At first, a day dreamer is what I saw in you,
Through your dreams our future we visualized,
Never will I be the proud ungrateful human,
Ever I will always be your bound grateful woman.
Make me your broom that any minute I'll sweep your darkness,
In your times of need will i bend to gather your broken glasses,
Like a Potter allow me to mould a pot in you,
A pot to keep memorable moments,
A pot to always store our joy that we will never run dry,
Let's fly together to the lands beyond with love on board,
In the lands where there's no sorrows,
By your side I wanna live
Azerbaijan
by Tarana Turan Rahimli
They will recognize me from my love


Some will leave their traces, in this world
Some won’t be satisfied with anything.
A grave of somebody
Will mention about its owner,
A word of somebody
Will be left after somebody.
All will desire
To leave any word in this world.
The centuries will cause to forget them.
The false castles made of lies
Will be destroyed.
The people will know everything
They will reprobate after knowing.
The fires will be made
For the guilty past.
They will choose only the words
And will keep only them..
And ..and they will recognize me
From my love!


Love
by Williamsji Maveli
Glowing like the beams of a blue moon, apart,
Golden-haired rays filling in my shining heart,
Your charming, soft breasts touch my naked skin, 
It is so cool, wet and moist like morning light rain.
 
A fragrance from the dark night’s budding flower, 
The body tastes more salty like the calm sea air,
My body trembles by your soft and feather touch, 
Like a pine tree, shook by a vigorous wind, as such.

An exciting lyric; a chirping bird, a loveable image, 
Softly, and seductively, you call out from the cage, 
I kneel down to nurture your beauty and courage,
For I am always with you to inspire; to encourage.
During a heavy nightfall of a romantic sensual bliss,
An inner desire starves, urges for a long sweet kiss,
Thoughts  comes in, dreams fades out, it is very often,
Peaceful pacts signed in and go out, like an orphan.

Love has become a affectionate poetic icon of infinity,
Erasing, wiping out all the bad obstacles of infertility,
Destroying images of a war shadow in the beginning,
All dreadful fears of a dead end, never come, signalling.

Once you took hold of my hands to die together boldly,
I knew no one other than you, could hug me mildly,
Love conquers all its corners, boundaries and territories,
Let us surrender to this passing life, and its obituaries.



Lo! Love Is Born
by B. S. Tyagi
Someone scribbled a few words
On the white waves of stream-
Came gurgling through yellow woods
Pearly sparkling words kept floating
Like butter-lamps on the dusky Ganga
With sweet sonorous evening hymns
Spreading peace, fragrance and innocence
And suffusing all with intoxicating trance
Then, delicately transported all-
Beyond time and space, far… Eternity.
Some worldly man read them
As they smoothly floated him past
His long dry heart was filled at once
With the glowing spark of LOVE
And the world around him
Illuminated with soothing light
Tears flowed down unceasingly
Like the first incessant showers
Filling the Earth with petrichor.
Solace
by Karin L. Frank
The mysteries amassed in years piled atop years
compel me to see you as you are, no longer succor
for a sweet tooth, nor a hit on a teenage addiction
but arnica for daily bruises. Once
we clawed our wild way up
from the adolescent caves, through dank,
hot and sultry corridors of flesh
that in ancient times erupted molten lava.
These days we store our innards,
cling-wrapped in plastic protection
since we need them so rarely
to accompany our climate-controlled caresses.
These days a different balm floods your body
and wells up when you seek to comfort me.
Your hollows absorb my aches and pains.
Your hands soothe what twinges and
I find solace in the sounds you murmur,
meaning nothing, meaning all.
What once made the platelets
of my blood dance, now sings quietly
medieval rondeaux in my veins,
since our hearts palpitate on their own now.
But the tune still retains an earthy twang
from those old stoked volcanos,
and I’m certain had the fires
that threatened to consume us
never blazed so fiercely
the ashes, now banked,
would no longer keep us warm.



“Bound With Each-other”
by Surbhi Anand
O! Night you wear,
Bright costume of light
Be fragrant as sandal
And grip a beautiful smile
Then be self-conscious
Of your own existence
And breathe,
To feed your inner-self!


I am waiting for you,
When you will measure me
My ups and downs!
I am in my prime age
All flourishing
Wear black gown but not for you,
And black shadows as well
Pluck wrinkles and mash
Outer or inner of my life!


So my bloke! You go
Soothe yourself and her
And your both mature lips
Let be bound with each -other !!


Island and Sea
By Chen Hsiu–chen
（Translated by Lee Kuei–shien）


Walking along the downtown street
I feel myself as a small floating island.


If you are also
a floating island,
please connect with me
to become a land with unlimited scenery.


If you are
a mysterious ocean
having same beats as mine,
please embrace my solid coast
with your arms.


Whenever weeping too much
I feel myself becoming a dead sea.


If you are also a sea
please connect with me
to become a vast expanse of waters
swashing waves in dance ceaselessly


If you are an isolated island
I invite you to reside within my ocean
to reduce my sadness.
My ears of seashells
will listen to your
sweet whispers.


Tender Bond
by Dr Usha Sridhar
My fatigue vanished magically
I held my precious bundle tenderly.
It was love at first sight
as she snuggled to me close;
signalling a blind trust
that for us – seemed a must.


I stayed awake in the nights
lest I missed her little cries.
I couldn’t leave anything to chance
I had to diligently pass in my new role.
I changed her nappies frequently
so she could sleep- heartily.


She got perturbed and upset
by the long line of guests.
She glanced at me to say
please take care of it for me.
Her wish was my command
I adapted to her needs.


We had our little conversations
that only the two of us understood.
At times she got naughty
I had to correct her softly.
She gurgled with laughter
when I played with her.


She was my top priority
everything else had to wait.
My life was enriched by her presence
in her I found my peace.


The Earth And The River
by Rajinder Kaur
When we already know
Each other to the bone
Then what does mean
Your rushing and pushing on me
And your eating away my body...
Said one day
The Earth to the river


If l try to stop you
You will not stop
Doing this, l know


But you will not eat up
The whole of me


The flowering plants that grow big and full on me are my today
The tenacity of their branches
The strong hold of their Roots make my tomorrow
Saying this...
The Earth let the river
Draw another line
On her breast.


Fragrance Of Love
by Jyotirmaya Thakur

Fragrance of love is intoxicating in essence, 
Showering blessings of caring in presence, 
Wonder of life is beautifully vagrant, 
Sprayed with perfumes of exquisite experience. 

Genuine love is in unconditional surrender, 
Mystical magician an unknown wanderer, 
Unparalleled joy is always a wonder, 
Passionate petals opening  splendour. 

Morning dawn brings golden bursts,  
Journey of discovery,meaningful firsts, 
Freedom of choice in life is a must ,
Fleeting moments of life will end in dust.

Garden of delight captured in words, 
Galaxy of stars shine paths untouched, 
Paradise hues sensually selected, 
Enchanted enigma of smell is awakened. 

Rapturous visions of love is heavenly, 
Sceptre of royalty is free in sensibility, 
Blossoming valleys aroma in blooms, 
Translucent lakes reflection of moon.

Every breath of life in sacred incense, 
Fragrant air flows in natural defence, 
Love is around flowing endlessly, 
Healing moments in time eternally. 
Untitled
by M.S. Rooney

The perfume in the cobalt blue bottle
smells of marigolds,
and, yes, it was mid-summer
when you brought it to me –
mid-summer, when marigolds
from pale yellow to dark burgundy
were bursting
from city flower boxes, spilling
between fence slats,
each head so purely round,
so tightly woven that
I never thought
to bend to smell them.


Yet when the scent rose from the bottle,
I knew it as clearly as I know the scent
of smoke or bread or blood.


The “love” Poem
by TS Hawkins


the notorious “they’ tend to say “love is patient…love is kind…”
“They” neglect to mention love is sad, bold, brazen and sometimes mad
“They” neglect to mention that love is a silver linings playbook
struck with kerosene and inflamed with unknowns
“They” neglect to mention love is mean, sneaky and preens
cocksure ability to swoon stars in your name
you; inhaling moonlit bliss of a third time promised I’m Sorry
and a seventh time Never Again
tattooed lies kiss the tender most section of secret fears
spread its truth about your smile to warmest parts of your enemies
and crawl back into the shattered remains of your soul
caress your doubts as jagged daydreams
rub the butterflies from your belly as if it’s your past causing current pain
“They” neglect to mention love is crazy; it will spade your naiveté
…every first time
…every last ex
…every second of sanity
challenge fetal feelings, swaddle each heartbeat in commercial pillow-talk
mount each fluffed fleeting moment into Hallmark folds for everyone to gawk at
tie final ounces of hope around the nape of uncertainty
for the one dance, on the one day, forever was supposed to mean something different
“They” neglect to mention the whole story; the worry…
the restless nights where love forgot to bring itself home
yet managed to change the locks before morning’s tea
“They” neglect to mention that love is a four-way intersection
with you, always in the middle collided by it all without apology
“They” neglect to mention
love; though patient and kind, is rough and blinded by its power
it’s too much and not enough; sought in sorrow and lust
trusting; despite its endless flaws,
will find you
take up residence in the three words
of the two eyes that will one day recite themselves back to you
…and mean the universe


To One Only Too Far
by Louis E. Bourgeois
In the end, your eyes will have no meaning.
And your arms, well, they have never mattered.
And the hair, yes, well, the hair is still a mystery.
Summer will soon fade away
and winter will be your only home.
Soon you will be forgotten,
and by many more than me.
The brown thrush and purple martins
will fly over you in the tall grass.
Yes, yes, the stars do look down,
and the incessant dawns
never promised a thing, darling,
yes, every word ever uttered
from your purple mouth
will come back to haunt you.
Universal Love
by Moinak Dutta


Oft do I think of Love
That goes beyond the wall
You plant in summer a cherry tree
I a mahogany  this fall
Then you spread a garden of hope
I decorate another too
You fly a kite above
And I just get from here its view,


Thus we mingle despite walls
We spread brotherhood
You find  a mango blossom
I build  an oak wood .


When a Writer Falls In Love with You
by Elizabeth Esguerra Castillo


Remember that time I told you when a writer falls in love with you, you will never die?
That is oh, so true for my love flows eternal and runs deeper in time,
It is engraved from the innermost core of my being and infinite, boundless
Beyond time and space, for I give it freely and not to be begged for.
A love that is beyond mere words and sweet whisperings
For ever beating long after the soul leaves the body to go back to its true Home.
Stories of you will be written as my love bleeds eternal portraits of your serene face enveloping my mind as it drifts away...
Characters which will remind me of your traits will be created on and on.
Poems of love only for you will be composed time and again,
With every beat of my heart, your name will be the only one to be uttered
I will not run out of words to tell you how much you mean to me
Call me a hopeless romantic but that is how a writer was born to be.
When I decide to give my heart, every written word will be dedicated for only you,
How can you die when I can create a thousand fold of stories in which I will let you live in my heart forever?
With every ink that I bleed, you are the one I will only think of
Yes, when a writer falls in love with you, you are forever alive!


Wife Is Life
by Jakka Pradeep


A memorable day in Life
It’s a marital bond with my wife
Two different souls…
Two different bodies…
Merging as one…


In the laboratory of marriage
In a new environment
Sharing feelings…
Enjoying romance….
Merging as one…


In the journey of marriage
I found a greatness guide
She takes care…
Saving money,
Helping family…


Oh! God…
Give us Courage…
To cross the ocean of Problems
Give us Love…
To bear the barriers of Life
I believe that,
East or west…
Wife is the best,
Wife is always My Life…




You Are Alive Forever…
By Swadhin Shaktiprasad
In my silence you are hidden
Changing your attire, perhaps camouflaged
Invisible to all, visible to me

Your memories raise head
To tarnish my solitude, to demolish my peace
In hot summer and cold frost
Deadly, like a demon like a ghost

Have I asked you for anything more?
Neither your body nor ethereal presence
I crave for your eternal essence
I crave for your love, the real you
Never of anything mundane I sue

Oh….The cruel goddess!
I’m ready to neck the venom you possess
Come, Descend into my world once
Born the candle of hope in my sconce
Feel the nectar of my love
Let’s break the shackles and rise above

See, how you are nurtured
In my withered skin
How you are lost
Within my white parched hair
How your beauty is engraved
On the old frame of my specs
How you are preserved
Within my gruesome rumble
How your memory is dissolved
In my every drop of tear
In me and my desolate terrain
How you are alive forever


Your Wilful Absence
by Swapan Kumar Rakshit


Your wilful absence in my life
Is like stillness for a running clock.
Your apathy towards my proposal
Mixes spice of my life with hemlock.
Your disinclination for my eager lips
Is like cold water for burning fire.
Your indifference for my passion
Is like extirpator for my new desire.
But, your dominant provocation
Is like the lighthouse for my ship.
And your incitement from underwater
Equips me with a rod with a lot of whip.


Your Smile
by Hongying Lim


Happiness
Fulfills the time
When looking at you
Drew a pot
Drink you with coffee
Become a part of mine
Intention flies along with the internet
How sweet
Your smile is
Without milk and suger
Flavor of black coffee spread
Warm mocha With a little bit sour taste
The dimple of your face
Mixed with the bubbles of coffee
A swirl of thinking
Turning
One word after another
I knock the keyboard forward
Our world so close but apart
Sentence by sentence weave into a vine
Along with you
Each twining stem
Bursts out Craving


Destino
by Annie Newcomer
The stars on your street
shine differently than mine.
Your alpha centauri
scatters light, hunting
the night, like satellite-faced 
owls equipped to survive, 
swallowing their prey in one gulp.
You are the crown prince.
Mine hide behind dark-floating
clouds, hidden stars clinging
to the periphery of my poor city home, 
where a bat, flying on its hinges,
violently negotiates the night.
A lost bonnet of skin,
it leans only on air to exist.
Buds Of A Rose Planted Apart
by Mohammed Shamsu-Deen (M. S. Deen)


We were bouquet from pine
Smelling of smiling ananas
But harmattan did twiddle our mingle . . .


Now what are the chances
That you would read me
Written on the wing
Of a baby dove


For the gale
That cast me South
And you North
Has turned a hurricane?


But I hope
The dove grow
To pierce the wind
And your heart!




Love
by Emeghara Collins Osinachi
Her only fault

Is love
Oh, so much love...

Loving me like no other
And loving me with all her heart...

That's her only fault...

Her only fault is magic
Oh so much magic...

Making magic
With her words...

That's her only fault...

Her only fault is music
Oh so much music...

Drumming with my heart
And playing guitar with my soul...

That's all her fault...

Her only fault is spell
Oh so much spell...

Watching me in
Her secret place...

And covering me
With her rosy smoke...

Leaving me moonstruck
And rosy-blind, always...

That's all her fault...



Let's Make Love
by Gold Kafayat Lawal

Beautiful presence of Love features
Only our best features;
Presenting us a perfect duo
But this sombre absence, adequately mirrors fault

The gloom left by the ascension of the moon
Conceals our longing with dirty clouds:
So, let’s make Love.

This yearn for a love that grew apart-
One that once was,
That we once were
Stemming from trueness of hearts and souls once bare
Only for the moon to take its brightness away from between us

Our shadows kiss the air and
The lattice between us consistently cracks,
Widening the gaps in our supposed bridges;
Solitude keeps our company.

And while we grapple in the darkness-
As shadows clinging to each other
But, without untangling bodies
Let’s make Love and ignite hope.

Hope,
That we’ll make light,
Be the light even. Radiating
From inside out
As we evict shadows lurking
From the past...

Let’s make love
Let’s make love our watchword and anchor

And though our worlds are different
This love shall be our universe...
Love's bouquet
by Lorraine Gordon


Love's perfume surrounded her like a halo...
Her skin a feeling,
Soft as silk petals she wore..
The sweetest smile that
glistened in the rain,
Mirrored the stars adorned her  angelic face...


Love enshrouded her...
He made her glow in his presence
Side by side they made the lovebirds envy...


The air was filled 
Happiness and bliss...
The  night was at love's randsom They lay in each others arms
Embedded horizontally Captivating  the aura of love...


Sweet love calm as lavender Beautiful as a white unblemished rose bud ...
The lovers filled the air with a blissful tune.. 
Time stood infinite...


 Yielding passion and beauty...


Untitled
by Omar Nassar



Dear, what is there to scare
us from our divine love snare
when this love we now share
Is as rejuvenating as fresh air.......
Yes, I love you as you love me
as we shall always love one
another out of this lovely world
inside our two longing hearts so...
Loving one another, one on one,
inside two in one, loving as one,
with a love generous and pure.
and sure as the sparks of passion....
Happy as we feel the warm love
waves of our lovely emotions and
sweet sensations soothing sweep
over our two hearts awash with love....
A love deatched from lies and
false ties without vile strings
attached to stop our search
for the paradise of our hearts.....
Where love is warms as the sun and
as simple as the loving word love,
soft as your touch and sweeter than
sweet nectar, and asks no questions
except a single quest : to love you as
you love me, as we love one another....
Feeling warm like the sun rising
in a breezy good morning born
when fresh scented flowers with 
fresh fragrances open to greet
the warm rays of the sun reflected
in the morning dew of a lovely day....



Sa’ida The SandStorm Calm-Down
by Daniel Yohanna Naturalist

In the belly of the Sahara desert
There lays the unspeakable truth,
The truth about the conception of beauty
The beauty like the azure sky after rain
The rain that tranquilize the heart of all betrothed
The betrothed of the Sahara desert.
When the desert is angry 
Unfolding its anger, 
The atmosphere is clothed with dark robe
Its image denied the sun it ray on earth
Habitats domicile are bathed with darkness
The darkness waved by the angry Sahara desert.
But her epitome symmetric 
Changes the tone and mood of the desert
Singing lullaby
With kisses luring it to tenderness
Calming the Sahara storm for it habitats
To wallow in tranquil love of nature.

Us In Holy Ground
by Nwigwe Nelson
Me and you is divine
In love we both shine
Sinful and holy
Strong and lonely
It will always be us
Standing on a holy ground
So please don't fail me now
This is all we got here now
In heaven in hell
It will always be us
In each other arms
Judge by the holy ones
I can't be without you
So take my hands
To your paradise
A holy matrimony
This is all we are
Love to dust
Lust to love
It is in me and you
This is us in holy ground
Judge by the saints
So please don't fail me now
It will always be us
If you once feel afraid
Cast your fear and doubt
I'll carry it all to the cross
Crucify them with my life
So please don't fail me now
Even when the world is apart
Don't fall apart from my heart
You will always complete me
In height in flight
I'll fall with you
In pain in gain
I'll be with you
It will always be us
In this holy ground
Burning like a holy tree
Consume in a holy love
Ame
by Ariyo A Rasheed Adebayo


Once I saw a rose with a soft and tender Petal.
It's colour, blood-red. 
Neglecting it thorn, it's flower bloom to blossomy. 
Filled with unparalleled elegance, She is. 


She's beautiful when she smiles.
Not for her look,
but for the energy that radiates through her eyes. 


She's beautiful when she says her words.
Not for the tone but the tune that makes you feel star-strucked. 


She's beautiful for her forever use of "WE" and never an "I" exists in her vocabulary,
not in pain nor in prosperity.
 
She's beautiful for she has a heart of heart that bottles her emotions.
For her heart to warm up you in need. 


She's beautiful for all the spark and attitude.
Not because she's perfect, but for she is imperfectly sufficient. 


She's beautiful for her thoughts are melodic as if they are a note of "Ballad". 


No! She isn't beautiful for something as trivial and temporary as her looks. 


She's beautiful deep down to her heart and soul, To the moon and back.



Fragrance of Love
by JoAnna Girard Kelly Poster

Fragrance of love is air scented 
sweet. A dilated taste of fine treats. 
While diffusing passionate bait.  
.
It whispers a song singing, pulling 
our heart strings. A grace not 
to replace our wistful fate.  
.
A beloved smile, a minds desire, my
feelings are aware of how much 
he still cares.
.
Fragrance of love is the breath of amity. 
Possessing a bouquet of secrets, 
cherishing a day of sharing. 


The ‘Zipless F**K’ Lives On
by Karin L. Frank


When not umbilicaled to cherished children
who clutch at exposed limbs with baby fingers
or vows that bind and eventually strangle
or power plays at ‘oh no, I love you more’
that hover over as vultures do
waiting for the last surrendered breath,
bodies are as they are
and do as they do.
The purity of skin on skin is not besmirched
by sticky glues from slapped on labels.
Sex for sex’ sake, like art for art’s sake,
is its own reward –
a plunge into momentary oblivion,
as refreshing as a ripe mango,
enjoyed in private over the sink
not appropriate for company
where its juiciness would be curtailed,
served sliced and diced
to be eaten with knife and fork, politely.


Irreplaceable.
By Lynn
I wouldn't hate the sun,
It shines bright and allows the flowers to grow,
Those that filled our love with sweet fragrance,
It melts the stone if tears in my heart with love,
I thank the sun for when the it kisses the sea at dusk,
I would see your smile in my dreams every night.
I wouldn't hate time,
For in it I spun to win a lottery,
Your love,
And it never lasted,
Everything got it's season.
I will always treasure the dreams,
Because even when hell broke loose between us,
In my deep slumber I would still feel your comfort,
See you smiling at the pathway,
Feel your arms around me,
And at times play in the flower garden together.
I have lost you but memories are still fresh,
But like the rain in my heart you shall reign,
Irreplaceable,
If you really loved me as you claim,
Then frame our pictures in the flames of fire,
For eternity you'll be treasured.



Sorrows Of Love
by Maureen Micah

It starts soo high like a splashed water
At the first sight like the taste of a lemon
Continues sweetly like the promises 
Promises more than the stars Abraham counted
Slowly after the first second mistake
The love that stood mighty and tall
The love is broken half with old memories 
Truly the thin line between love and hatred is hidden
I remain suffering in darkness
Losing my mind
Was this love thing all fun?
Deep down inside ,
I know its my fault.
So am going lock it 
Do my feelings matter?
Love you have became a building temple for enemies.

Enchanted Heart
by Martins Deep

I thought my heartbeats were poor chords -
Until you sang to it flawlessly without words.
You leave sonnets of love on my dark skin -
I'll prefer over a galaxy of stars.
In your eyes rests a universe
I am eternally exploring.

There were gloomy days
Your smiles and breath on my sad face
Performed the magic the sun  does to the roses.
I am the Kalahari desert and you my oasis
I'm standing where words fail
And the muse feels unworthy to tell.

Your fragrant love kisses my soul
You set my heart on fire like a fiery furnace
I have found what is beyond gold
And the river in me breaks into a dance.
You have become what my eyes worships
You crown all my dreams and wishes.

Take my hand
Adventures are calling.
Whisper the theme
Of this I have found.

Kiss away
This Siberian ice
With this summer in your eyes
O love that has come to stay!

Strum my enchanted heart like a cherub's harp
Let's sail on the ocean of my joyous teardrops.

Madly in Love 
by Eminence Cletus 



Love 
Made of four letters 
powerful it is 
laconic lacuna 
I was 
To describe what love is 
Egregious and titanic
In structure 
It is 
Easy to mingle with 
Hard to get out of
Love ain't walk with lust 
Ain't spit benevolence 
I found jealousy 
And enviousness
In its dictionary and diary 
Absent it was 
Callow youth 
I was 
When i know nothing 
About love 
Mandatory 
It was and is 
In God's law 
Hatred 
It avoid 
Transformed I was 
When i fell in love 
With love 
Curious my parents are 
When i'm madly in love 




Reflection
by Timileyin Gabriel Olajuwon

1
When you look into a mirror,
How do you explain the spots in your shadow:
Do you see a ghost or a vast coast,
a silent grave or a burning altar,
a swaying dove or a playing cat,
a body, a soul or a spirit fighting your ageless self?

11
mama said " a woman's heart is a
reflection of self;
it is a talking drum of two faces,
what face you see is whom you've
become;
when you see a silence like the calm
ocean or
an emptiness like a withered leaf,
look beyond your eyes to see the shadow in your darkest hour
& be the silence in graveyards of living souls... "

111
This is how to begin a
journey into a woman's heart;
how to spark the fire of love:
"Begin with a reflection of self
and end with an expression of silence"



One More Chance
by R. Andy Brayne
( Braynes Poetry )

I know I've been an ass
That was when I was just a lad
I've thrown the wrong card
My work us not worth even a pass
But am here on my knees
Begging for another chance
Your love I have missed
Take me back once more
And I'll live up to perfection
Open your arms for love
And I'll leave nomore
Please lady please, forgive me
All I ask is a chance
Just One More Chance



Poem For My Late Wife (Nondumiso)
by Goodwill Thokozane Ndlangamandla

I married you because I loved you
I stayed because I loved you
I loved your doft hands with
their short fingers

I loved your big eyes
that were like a polished dark stone.
I loved the smell of you – Oiland sweat.

I loved your mind
Razor sharp – sharp estute
I loved the way I held you
,so tight you could not breath

I loved the way you took me
over and over again
possessing me with
passion as hot as a flame
I loved you. There I admit it.

Oh yes it feels like yesterday
kissing your warm sweet lips
promising each other "till death do us part"
Oh death be not proud
Rest In Peace my darling wife.
You shall be treasured forever in my heart.


Our Social Boundary Line
by Janice Angella

Marked blood red;no socialising,
Yet I'm human like you,
To your affluent kids,
I'm an immoral parasite ,
Yet I'm aged ten;like them 
In your mere contemptuous sight,
I'm a creature of disgust,
You elude me like a plague ,
Saying I befit not your standards,
But is it my wish to be here?
Walking, living in the streets,
Mama was gunned down ,
By armed policemen,
News headlines claimed a robbery,
Papa, I've never known him,
Not even heard of him,
I have no one now,
The street bins feed me,
The walkways offer a place to sleep,
The street dogs watch over me in my sleep,
I talk to myself mostly, at times God,
How would you feel to be me?
My life is a constant struggle,
All I have is hate;from all,
But I will hate not,
I know how to be hated feels,
I'll love without limits;to all,
Please love me too.
Egypt
by Alaa Sameh Abd Alhameed.


I will release my arms with the wind
with her  now I can quickly send
Rays of love for my heart to mend
I will go straight in my way
In year month or in one day.
My love is great I can say.
I will smoke or drink wine.
To keep my love secret and mine.
BUT... Oh my God I am not fine.
Listen to me my wind be fair
Don't touch strongly this hair.
It's for my beloved you should care.
I am a true lover I am a man
Who loves naturally without a plan
I will keep my love alive I can.
She touches my heart violent & deep
When she comes my eyes weep
I can't forget her I can't  sleep.
Without her I feel heat
In my heart ,bed or in my seat
How I forget her or delete?
love will live forever my dear.
listen to my heart you can hear.
It calls for you ,to be so near
come in my princess come here.


You Are In Love With Me
by Anil Kumar Panda
 
You can’t hide
What is going on in your heart
The aroma of your love is there
In the holes and buttons of my shirt
I can read your lips
Can know what you want to say
The tea holds the fragrance of your
Love that I take at the start of my day
Your eyes spill the truth
Though you do all the time deny
How much pain my absence gives you
How you bury your head in bed and cry
It’s really a sight to see
When you give your body a swing
When a crackle of my voice is enough
To turn you mad and make you dance and sing
Mirror always tells the truth
How you are blooming like a rose
In me you have found your love and
Your life seems no more stale and morose
It’s in my fate that
You are kind in giving love to me
No more love I need in this world
My mind runs high and I am feeling free


Untitled
by Kirti Dwivedi

Writing that exalting story,
Ample of time I've tried.
Words wondered themselves how beautiful they are,
When I portrayed you sitting by your side..


That portraiture of words,
That red cup of wine,
That beautiful winter time,
Witnessing that beauty of rhyme...


Admiring the beauty of the night,
Residing by the lake or beside.
Burying my head down on your chest,
Was the world's best place to hide...


The anticipation of that night I held within me,
What hassles us to be the same...!!
My words aren't enough to write alone,
Take me along to the night it began...!




Blowing A Kiss You
by Maria Paz Samelo 
 
My love is so far away,
Calling him is my only way,
I cannot hug him anyway,
So I blow a kiss and be happy,
 
Separated by million miles,
Even if it’s hard all I need is to smile,
Imagining him like a star above,
And blow a kiss to you my love.



Long distance relationship,
Far away maybe but my love is so deep,
I assure you my sweet honey bee,
I will give you my faithfulness and honesty.



Sooner we will be together,
And we will be happy forever,
And all I have to do my dear,
Blow a kiss to you far or near.



Grandma 
By Dr. Ama'Yo Stephen 
( #The_aMaste_Poet )
You're mother to my father 
Mother to my mother 
Teach me good moral 
The moral that you taught my parents 
Show me the right path 
The path that leads youths 
To a successful adulthood
Grandpa 
You're father to my father 
Father to my mother 
Guide me to the right direction 
The directions of good self esteem
Show me the right skills 
The skills that lead youngsters 
To self reliance
Grandparents 
You're parents to my parents 
To my father and my mother 
Teach me the right customs and tradition 
The customs and tradition of the ancestors 
That made my parents fit in the norms 
The acceptable norms of the society
I, your grandchild, beseech You.
.



The Fragrance Of Love
by Ngozi Olivia Osuoha

The fragrance of your love
Is like my perfume
It takes me high on the move
Under the influence and fume,
Gentle fragrance of a dove
That does all to plume.
Even from a distance
You give me such fragrance
That makes me dance
To enjoy every chance.
It is your smile that makes me wonder
The sound of the thunder,
It is your voice that tells me to glue
That the future you see is blue,
It is your face that makes it real
When my heart yearns to heal.
The fragrance of your love
Is the aroma
That cures the trauma
Of any coma,
Like a drama
It clears the dilemma.



First Kiss
by Kiragu Warwere

I remember our first kiss
The gentliness of your arms
As you slowly rapped them around me
The twinkle in your eyes
As you drew near to me
I swear at some point I felt you shake
Shaking as if what we were about to do was sin

My love
This is how I saw our first kiss
It wasn't fancy
Like candle lit dinner and moon presence
It was pure magic
Shooting stars
Birds singing from a far
The redience of natures glow
In the forest you know

I wanted it to be there
Where the silence creeps in
Where my lips sample yours
Sighs,goosebumps and nerves more
Your hands firmly holding my derier
Then now the kiss
Precision,Intensity,Slow.
Deeper and deeper.
As I fall more in love with you,

Baby 
Lets rekindle our first kiss
This time do it right

I love you


Don't Be Scared By Love Part 1
by Olivera Docevska

You can create happiness,
don't wait,
in my fragility, no way,
don't believe

avoid the doubts, I am strange,
what about that ...!
With tenderness freely,
disappoint me,
again and again with every dawn,
stay with me awake,
love me, with your hand
call me...
and desire the kindness and tenderness that fears you,
and which you admire ,
freely
admire me,
take it every moment of my time,
in order to not get lost hem in space,
in vain.
you deserve it every second!
With my smile,
cover yourself,
you're the best thing that happened to me ...
you deserve me and I deserve you ,
in hot July, as an advertising sign
from heaven on the road,
you have been sent to me by mail...
You're shaking!
With every expression of the celestial feelings,
as I am,
Understand me.
Don't Be Scared By Love Part 2
by Olivera Docevska


no, don' t worry, you will not change me ...
you aren't scared of anything,
don't be scared by love, love us,
Forever,
won me.
Don't let it, without Love
discovered,
from this world we
to leave.
Think on me
and accept all that expressions of feelings
Deep ...
That restlessness is so deep ...
Calm down hem.
For a long time, it is around me, it protects me,
As a walk along the clouds ...
Infinite.
I feel it.
Nobody wrote such a poem,
designed for me,
Incredible ...
From our lives,
don't,
be absent .... don't do that anymore.
Just adore me...
All Cards Out!
By Joy Munde


Really now?
Is this it?
Is this what we come down to?
Why getting defensive?
I was not all offensive...
Then why?
Tell me why...


My cards are all out,
Yet you still hide your own,
My truth still resounds...
Yet I can't recall your words
So I say it again...
Man up!
Stand up!
State it all out!


Hide not your scars,
Cover not your pain,
Tell me of your fears,
We may get scared together,
And in that. ..
We shall stand out strong,
So tell me...
What do you really need?


Tonight (After Wedding)
by Abioye Samuel Akored

Tonight, we shall write this book,of love
A new song of lust.
When these fingers shall lose their brain
In between the lines of your body.
And every single of my touch
Shall import in you,passion via your follicles.

Tonight we shall sing those songs of pleasure,
When my nudity turns into an harlot
Beckoning that of yours,
Into treaty of sweat and warmth.

Tonight
When lips become so reckless and desperate
And their eyes become blind like bartimaeus
Searching for healing from one another.
And when they do, when they loot saliver
And tongues befriend each other.
Then will I draw my map southward
In between your groin.
And escape into torrid through the gate
Even deeper. Till ardent joy runs through my body.
And flute of satisfaction blows in your heart.



Maybe I Was Wrong
by Abienekpen Osa'etin
Maybe I was wrong 
for being so long 
in a place so far 
from where you are.
You told me never to leave you, 
never in your sight disappear 
like the early morning dew 
under the rising sun un-care.
I left to answer a clarion call 
in a very far away cranky land 
where rains many times never fall 
and sun and harmattan perpetually stand.
Now our love has gone cold, 
our feelings waned uncontrolled. 
Since we can not make the love return 
we can amend, patch and make a U-turn. 



Untitled
by Jacob Temidayo Opeyemi
(Mayor Jake)
The way the rain loves to fall
upon the surface of the earth,
so does my breath loves to fall
upon the surface of your heart.
What everyone thinks is that, true love
is as small as an ant that could be shoved off.

No one knew that love is a flower;
a tender flower among stubborn weeds.
No one saw that love has the power
to make one senseless without seeds.
No one smelt that love is a fragrance
that can fill the room in between long distances.

I was in love or so, I thought,
when the sun refused to rise high.
I was in your heart or so, I sought,
when my apple refused to grow an eye.
On the tenderness of your soft lips,
I want to have my first and my last sips

When your arms held me up,
I shivered in joy like a new born kid.
When you asked me to look up,
I saw my heart dancing on your eyelid.
I became like a broken little girl,
purchasing glues to become again, well.

Let your smell fill my nose,
Till I become tipsy and tipsy again.
For you are a smell I cannot close,
Else I will have nothing to gain.
Show me how a soul loves rebirth,
I'd show you how the rain loves the earth.




The Lily Of My Soul
by Okoroafor Onyekachi

Our sky colour bright
Your love ever sweet
our feelings are right
no need to doubt

Oh my mistress
this heart is no longer mine
But ours
Twinkle that romantic eyes for a while
leaving all suitors at ease

you are my sweet rhythm
my brightening cloud
A book I love reading
The angelic pride

your love is sweeter than sugar
Honey let me embraces your shoulder
Give me reasons to smile today
Let me tell you why I have come to stay

When look into your eyes
I see countless emotions
When you hold me tight
I dream beyond sight

Oh sweetie
You are my poetic wings
You alone is my estacy
The reality of my feelings
Redemption.
By Abdul Hakīm
I've tasted sweet and tasted gall,
tasted some lilies drooling nectar
but your lips are plainly equivocal
that I know not what they truly are.
Long before your love
did my soul first touch
with the stillness of wool,
The likeness of my heart 
was of a wayward man
cursed to the darkened 
quarters of ignorance
Like Christ of the Book,
I was nailed to eternal doom.
I died and on the third day
I found you; I resurrected.
O' let he, that knows
not love in thine heart
be casted in the baseless 
depths of perdition
For love and scorn
can never be nursed 
in the same cradle 
Caligula was born.
Now to Fate that made
twain-sundered hearts one,
from you a single boon I plead
That this viable seed of love
dispensed on the soils of my heart
gain strength, sprout with time
and bear fruits above nether earth.
Your Personality Is Fire And Dew (Refrain Stanza)
by Gert Strydom
(For Annelize)
While it lingers for a short while
sunny is you lovely hot smile
your personality is fire and dew
together with you every day is new
where your mere presence does me beguile
which is filled with faith, love and hope
where you live in my heart’s scope
and between us there is many a mile
but sunny is you lovely hot smile.



Untitled
by Appah Amazuo


All eyes on her
Beauty.
Cynthia, the lady in my
Dreams,
Excellent and perfect,
Fine and faithful,
Good and generous,
Healthy and strong,
Intelligent and beautiful,
Jolly me always.
Kind and truthful,
Lovely and meek,
My cherished lady,
Nothing will separate us
On this planet.
People argue true love,
Quash them,
Real love exist,
So sweet like honey,
True love is pure and
Incomparable,
Very unique, 
With money it's like
Days day daily,
Yes true love is
Zwieback.
My Everything
by Hassen Gara

To you I made a vow
Your love flows down through my veins
Right now
A blaze in my heart
It’s been burning from the start
The seed of love you planted in me
Has breathed a new life into me
With you, I found a love so new
Fresh like morning dew
Like a rose spreading fragrance
You filled my senses, my whole existence
All through these years, you have been my true friend
My shelter, my shield till the end
A real treasure
My wealth beyond measure
You gave my life a meaning
My soul has found healing
How fragrant is your love!
My sweet, gentle dove
You are all I ‘m living for
Your love, I‘ll keep evermore
My rose, my sunshine
I shall be yours, you shall be mine
The one thing that can be true
You are the nearest to my heart
I had fallen in love with you
Thoughts of you fill my mind day and night
You are my heaven and my delight
The apple of my eye
The twinkling star in my night sky



Our Love Fell Apart
by Kolade Malik Ademola


The days were old, 
Our times had gone, 
We used to be in love, 
Till my heart shredded to pieces. 


My heart beat your name for long, 
While it sang its melodious songs, 
I wanted the best for us, 
But you discovered "each other" as "ourselves"


I remembered your hugs that gave me warmth, 
And your prints on my lips when we kissed, 
I remembered the good moments we spent, 
As the nightmares that tormented me in my slumbers. 


Your heartbeat placated my soul,  
And I  lost myself in the smiles of your love,  
Now my heart gapes at me in my hands, 
And all I ever perceived was the fragrance of your love.


You want the distance,
And you've had it.
Now, you're happy with your new lover,
While I'm being torn apart with our old memories.

At Heavens Gate
by Christian Odinaka Nweke

At heaven's gate ! 
I met an angle 
with a twisted eyes ,
Whose mouth is a flame 
of fairly words .
Springing my heart at high 
Like hope ; I ne'er regret
With such staffs 
in her chest ,
I mind not eating the forbidden fruit 
Over ,over and again .
This might take me off 
from the heaven's gate 
But ne'er mind of facing you -
Wife of portiphar
at any rate


Forbidden
by Dosunmu Joshua Ayooluwa


The candle burnt slowly
Wax dripping down its sides
She stared into its flame
As it danced and flickered like her heart within
The glow of the fire reflected in her eyes
Hypnotizing and bewitching
It hung in the air as they snuggled closer
Seeking warmth in a cold candle lit night
The want, the need, his thigh nudging hers
As he tried to squelch the throb between his thighs
The smell of him wafted into her nostrils
He smelled of the outdoors and man
A compelling aphrodisiac
Her fingers lifted of their own accord
As they trailed and traced the contour of his face
Down to his chest, her breath caught in her chest
A man with a mans body
The muscles well defined and substantive
"So unwise", a voice cautioned her
The incline of her chest
The tremor in her hands
The feel of her hair wound around his fingers
"Would you say nay to the chance of sharing more 
than just warmth together admist a storm?"
A dalliance, a tryst....
One stolen night ...."What is your name?"
"Bidden"
"Bidding?"
"No Bidden, as in For-Bidden!"


Muse Of Love
by Ridwan Adedeji Olanrewaju
.
Yesternight went with sooth and ease
Forty days, forty nights saw me true and through
Clad in maturity of months of overturns
Wonder and mused. And wished
The prolonged days were short
Just to see the she-sea at other end of scale.
.
Ninth month, a mighty hand
Brought forth out a life.
Face lit at sight of lamp lightening the oval vase
Ours was love at first sight. And how I wished I ceased
The very day I saw hers
How I wished hers
Was the first and last I saw of this world of mirage
I thought, like a visitor I was.
Hopes rekindled at thoughts of a coalition universe.
Good and bad, all together formed the world.
Little I did know-
Stiffnecked outnumbered the righteous ones; insects to man.
.
A moralist,
Times I thought she had forsaken our love
Now, I know better was for our own good-
Mine and hers. By the milky moon,
I swear, Your name will be inscribed in marbles
Under the tiles of life and death.
Your heritage will I preserve.
Your legacy will I give life
Even in sundown nap will I remember
The love we shared,
Agape, genuine and true.

Rare
by Jason Cueto

A brown eyed gal
with an anfelic face
all mixed up
looking for her place
Bouncing and hurting,
waiting and searching
trying to find somewhere to call home.
Looking for love
in every wrong place
so much more
than a pretty face
she has something that's so rare to find
If you were mine
I'd never let you go
If you were mine
you'd always steal my show
If you were mine
I'd always show you how rare you are
an abstract, priceless work of art
with just a smile
she can steal your heart
you've got something
that's so rare to find.

LOVE still remains LOVE
by Ketaki Datta


All the birds of the night crooned a song
That resonated with my own dirge of midnight,
The moonshine which had been hidden beneath
The foliage of the tall tree on the east border
Lighted up the lacklustre rims of sorrow,
I could visualize a grim future ahead ,
Love that held both of us in a cocoon
Seemed to rip apart like an old tattered cloth,
I strained my eyes to look beyond—
To my utter dismay I found him
Brazen-facedly sharing his seat with a
Blonde of fifty-five, quite domineering in looks
Quite authoritative in tone.
But my lover did not hum or haw
To take her hands in his and pour
Sweet nothings in her ears,
Though I said nothing.
I believe, Love is just an emotion,
Which may not wait if it alteration finds
Love is still ‘love’ if it alters when it
Alteration finds.
Who says , it should not?
Who says, it does not?
If hues of life change and change,
Hues of love will change too,
If fidelity is lost in love,
Yet love remains as it is,
And lovers in each others’ ears still coo.


Ether
by Paromita Mukherjee Ojha


The majestic eagle soars high In the azure sky
From meeting the gaze of the golden sun It does not shy
Without a flinch the eagle
Braves the ether
It deftly crosses the ethereal void
Without a jitter In a flash it swoops down
And agitates the tranquil sea
Its talons softly kiss
The surface of the waves
And grips its prey- a fish naïve
With its huge wingspan the eagle
Manoeuvres the ethereal white In boundless soaring flight,
It turns towards its nest on the cliff side
The eagle carries the prey
To feed its famished child
The months would pass with growing pride
Themother would look at her child
Then one fine day the child
Majesticallywould over the blue sea glide
The fond mother would also spread
Her glorious wings by her child’s side in boundless flight
They would soar beyond the ethereal light

We Have Lost Even
by Diana Raab


(Response to Neruda)


We have lost even our memory
of that day we spent in one another’s arms
when no one knew we knew of one another


and each person in the world searched
for their perfect lover, but only when
your aqua eyes met my forest green ones
did I realize that you existed
in this world we inhabit and needed,
but would be separated from you
in more ways than desired.


Sometimes our moon leaves
my vision without knowing
you also disappeared,
and returned
when our clock struck your number.


Who was I before you came along?
would anyone would have wanted me
why does love surprise us


when we need it the most.
Does this universe l
listen more than we thought
it ever could


You always seem to arrive when I need you
thank you very much.
You’ll never be able to count the spectrum
of my gratitude in all those stars situated in our heavens.




To My Wife (Private)
by Patrick Cabello Hansel
For Luisa


My wife, my bird of prey, my unborn peach,
sweet miser of salt and honey, nest of needles,
what bruised nation will erupt when I march into your scar,
which of my swords will you tear from my throat?


To touch you is to lay my tongue on a knife
sweetened on fruit, the sap stinging hymns from my eyes.
To love you is to befriend birds from their wings,
kiss the face of the hawk and beg its claws caress my chest.


Woman, I lie next to you, I close my eyes, I shiver, I pick
the smallest part I can stand, your knuckle, your unencumbered nipple,
the fold of your leg cursing its rush to the sea, I open and I sing until
your wombed beak tears the seed from my breast


and pulls it to your bone, plants it in the darkening blood
and drowns it in a light that God would not dare to speak
until I sting my name from your voice over and over
until I die and die and die and rise a child, a falcon, a forgiven fruit.


First Hidden Then Sudden
by Margaret Saine

"Had we but world enough, and time..."
-Andrew Marvell
Slowly the paths
of our bodies
cross the dark wintery city
glowed into words
engaging
zigzagging
like zippered teeth­
in a night
of frazzled starlight
Toward the gate
the white door
silhouettes in an ample
threshold of light
where sudden arms
entangle and
hidden bodies embrace
Your lucid lips
travel along my skin
to graze my veins
Suspenseful lip trains
racing along my devoutly
wished-for destination
Entangled in a new light
of sparkling delight



Behind The Lens
by Anasuya Priyadarshini Pradhan


When he laughs, it spreads,
Like warm hugs in the winter,
The laugh brings me blush and,
Brushes my chubby cheeks,
With the shade of rose,
Everything seems blissful,
I dazzle with glee,
And I keep gazing at him,
Again and again,
Until he finally creates,
Something beautiful,
His dimple!
When he cries,
Every pretty pearl weeps,
On my neckline,
With each tear drop in his eyes,
My soul sinks into despair,
The blue sky turns gray,
But as soon as he lay down on my lap,
I give him a tender hug,
And as my fingers stroke on his hairs,
His tear disappears!




I Had A Love Story
by Purnima Singh


Our coming together
was a divine grace,
We met each other,
We moved ahead at a great pace,
Our love was blessed
By God’s power.
I still remember
The day we met.
A hot noon
Was answered by
Summer shower,
The day you proposed
Was heavenly
It was the celebration
Of Navratri’s Ashtami.
Even the place,
You chose,
To say those,
Three important words.
Was the temple’s pavement.
Our love was so pure.
It could endure,
Any impediments.
Then you forgot,
The promises made
Dark thoughts
Did the mind invade.
Did heaven make a mistake?
Or was it planning my doom?
Or our love story was woven
In a much darker place?



Eternal
by Sravani Singampalli


Those mustard yellow flowers
Have so much to say about you.
I will not talk about
Your rosy lips and oceanic eyes
Because I can taste your rose
And swim in your eyes.
I dream about romancing
Your unselfish lavender soul.
For me your beauty is eternal
Sun cannot destroy it
Winters cannot dry it
Time cannot age it
Ask those romantic pink cherry blossoms
How much I adore you.
You are beautiful not
Because you look beautiful
But because you make
Me feel happy and cheerful.
Your beauty cannot be seen by all
It is hidden in my words
It is hidden in our unending love.
Untitled
by Abhishek Kumar Shandilya

Listen,
I have given up hopes.
It’s applicable for you to come
In my loneliness.
I am unscathed right now
I shall not call your name
Behold.
How clear the sky is !
Happens when it rains enough.
All the dirts is washed away of leaves
And the trees look much green.






Live Will Be Without You
By Khafiza Egamberdieva


My dreams are quite calm ,
The heart got accustomed saying fate .
My love- knot drowned,
Inside the ocean of the heart.


Live will be without you,
Life beautiful, love for living is excellent.
Sometimes-sometimes drowned love,
Rises up, burns soulful.


Cloudy the sky of my eyes,
A rain beats my heart.
The sun is up cattling this,
passing cloud, giving light to my heart.


Live will be without you…