emerald song

Ah, precious

moments

of memories,

of walking with thee

in the wind

as it cools the heat

along the streets

and at the shores

of darkened sea.

Beyond I languish

by the blooming rose,

see the peak and pine

in the Autumn shade.

Time goes by ...
with its perpetual sigh,
your song and my 

tearful soul--                              

silently I wait

upon a winding road

yellow

red 

purple

leaves,

morning flees

before

my aching heart.

--eva-maria hogrefe

(October 31, 2012)

the pearl within touches you

Early

I rise

The moon still in the sky,

stillness the pulse of the city

but not internally,

the blue grotto,

my heart, restless!

I imagine I can hear

the sea

where the waves

echo my heart–beat,

and the ebb and flow

of the tides

are beneath my feet,

knee-deep

I’m in anticipation

of meeting Love

the fullness of your soul

the beauty of you,

the rich azure

within your deepest

recesses of thought.

I’ll travel gently

over its surface

as  a huge

circular light

spirals

its way toward

my heart,

and as you touch

it

the pearl within

touches you.

--eva-maria hogrefe

(October 26, 2012)

Self

You see the scene

Of your inverted self

Through the rocks

Of space

Your outer self

Through the sands

Of thought

You trace--

The subtle race

For the sweet

Presence

Of the eternal ways

Of Love--

And in your true self

Face

The lilacs

Jasmine

Violets

And roses,

Luring

The senses within--

Homeward!

--eva-maria hogrefe

(October 23, 2012)

not in books found

Good-bye only to mortal-throbs

of spiritual blindness

leaving behind the mindless --

a drama reflected on

the mental screen  of silence.

And a warm "Hello,"

and a sweet embrace

in the sunshine found

in every nook

of an inner space 

of love,

wisdom,

kindness,

and patience with the mind of men.

Not in books found

but on the spiritual plane

do we soar, bound to each other 
with joy, and in Love’s sacred power!

--eva-maria hogrefe

(October 23, 2012)

It’s how Love designs

Timeless—

spring arrives after winter

as the ice edges dissolve

at the rushing waterfalls--
where?

One follows another

and so with joy do bear

the stream of life-- now

snow on the plow

snow in the hair,

does to love it matter?

What has love

to do with time,

can Mind be battered?

The flow of tears

the flow of rivers

the flow of seasons

all purify

the mud

accumulated

by time, and its sludge

earth-bound … but

not of life and love!

Sweet and soft

she spoke

but he

sighs, and a tear of winter

broke.

A kiss of love offered

cloaked --

can it return? Yes!

Take the kiss and

drink 

the timeless nectar

of divinity--

its love

beauty

immortality

the ambrosia of soul

the perfume of love

to love and live!

It’s how Love designs

one and one 
and, one by one, to bind!

--eva-maria hogrefe

(October 2012)

I desire LOVE

I DESIRE LOVE

Prologue:

Your heart is beautiful

Because you desire Him.

I desire LOVE 

LOVE is God to me

You desire LOVE

LOVE is good to thee!

LOVE is good because

GOOD is God --

GOD is All

good

loving

kind

and our MIND

your strength and mine.

To desire Him

does not exclude 

the nightingale's song

the dewdrop on a rose

the blue bright sky --

the light 

that shines through YOU 

and His creation's might!

(October 2012)

On a rainy day

On a rainy day as we have today, 

a grey pall of moisture-laden air

the sky dark

cries

the winds blow around the block

the movements of thought we create

all day whistle 

harsh

no answer found within the lines

waxen and solemnly invisible

words

and so the dove flies back to its Arch

as do light-mantled sooties return

to their nests

beyond

hugging the cliff face not wrecked

but calm before the precipice

and then swing back

to the stillness

--of my heart!

--eva-maria hogrefe

(October 2012)

But what if

Dear Friend

… You are no part of a contemporary scene,

but warm and gentle, loving, poised

with thoughts bright, reserved, dignified

in mannerism and in style:

Ah, the pure stream has found

its path in the agelessness of

timeless qualities of joy, wisdom,

vitality, love and strength of mind!

Ask, what has “time” to do with beauty?

Is not Beauty a transparency found

alone in the splendor of Soul

and goes forth expressed in words,

gaze, and deeds, as a nobility

undefined,  … and unbound?

... I’m musing over paradoxes:

Of the notions of youth! How aged

some appear as if standing

before a scaffold, because 

the thought is sadly scorched:

it fears “old” and thus feels old.

Now, tell me, “What is this -- about?”

I’m pondering the bold design of God!

Could His blueprint be useless,

unfit to glow, unable within to grow?

Thought is creative!

What if a mind convinced

 of dark clouds hovering over

would make a belief come true?

... Did not Job say:

“The thing which I greatly feared

is come upon me” (3:25)?

Buoyancy, freshness, fullness of life,

these divine graces, which lift

the banner of agelessness high,

conquer self-destructive emotions,

and thus … making a life brighter and lighter,

and have a love for every youthful grace,

where within we find a greater delight

then counting every dark fear’s mace.

And earthly dreams broken: Justify

the love of Jesus for the Christ,

and the price he paid for our victories open …

--eva-maria hogrefe

(September 2012)

When you find Love, You will find yourself. ~ Rumi

The “I” as light as a feather,


Rising in the glow of the morning sun,


Up and up it goes, beyond the tether

Of fearful notions into an altitude where,

A joyous abandonment, wise and gentle,

Substantial as all the good put together,


The self in heavenly illumination --


At the astonishment of some,

And ministration – requests to withdraw
.

Selflessly it moves beyond 


The confinement of a minor place,

A tiny human mental space, to feel the bond

With the great “I am,” and therein 
An enlightened, inner world to contemplate,

The movement of a soaring,

Gliding spiritual thought, seen obedient,

Though to a mortal sense
Progress seems an impediment, thus boring …

Now the time has come

For thought resurrected

To enter the portal of Love, and

With ardent whisper, you’ll say:

“O Love, hold me in your healing embrace!”


On this, Dearest, meditate --

And surrender the self to Love’s ways.

--eva-maria hogrefe

(July 30, 2012)

A few notes:

I write free verse -- that means when I compose a poem I listen to the musical phrasing instead of the metronome, i.e., I’m in-tune with my own voice of rhythms, which will be my measure for composing, and … (a love of mine) adding the richness of metaphor.

Poets down the ages thought the gift of metaphor the most important.  … The best words in the right order and then the musical sound, the rhythm, but most important, the metaphor.

For me poetry is music in words, doors to step through, canvases to paint, or compositions of an inner melody to listen to … 

A poem can be a kind of conversation with itself, or the narrator the observer, not speaking only from experience but from observations life offers.