Her Everlasting Smile (a Villanelle)

Next Sunday at my monthly “Poetry Dome” meeting we are required to write a ‘Villanelle’ , and below is my attempt at the ‘Format’ … which I have adapted from an old favourite poem of mine, “Everlasting Smile”, you’ll find my original poem attached below the Villanelle …


Her Everlasting Smile (a Villanelle)




I wonder, was it all worthwhile

My chest, heavy as never before

Remembering, her everlasting smile


I look back, on her unfortunate life-style

Being unable to walk and talk anymore

I wonder, was it all worthwhile


I relive, her personal exile

My throat, swollen and sore

Remembering, her everlasting smile


I hesitate, retracing every mile

My tears, splash on the floor

I wonder, was it all worthwhile


I cringe, behind my happy profile

My heart, has forgotten how to roar

Remembering, her everlasting smile


I sleep alone, awaiting the next trial

My tongue, tired, needs to say more

I wonder, was it all worthwhile

Remembering, her everlasting smile




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______________________________________


Everlasting Smile


My eyes, narrowly cracked.

My cheeks, slightly etched.
I rest here, retracing every mile.
Remembering, your everlasting smile.

My lips, already dry.
My tongue, trying to say goodbye
.
I wonder, was it all worthwhile.
Remembering, your loneliest smile.

My throat, lumpy and sore.
My chest, heavy as never before.

I look back, recalling your life-style.
Remembering, your younger smile.

My lungs, empty and tight.
My legs, weak and light.
I relive, your personal exile.
Remembering, your generous smile.

My head, spinning from fright.
My heart, deep and out of sight.
I sleep alone, crying like a child.
Remembering, your everlasting smile.







Ivor Steven (c) July 2022

Throwback Friday, A Voice in the Mist, by Ivor Steven

I found this old poem in a dusty foolscap folder under a pile of “stuff” I was tidying up … maybe from 15 years …

ivor20's avatarGo Dog Go Café

Today’s poem is one that I have not published on my web/blog site, and I am not sure when I first wrote the original words. Up until now, this a piece that has been filed away in a foolscap folder.

A Voice in the Mist

The moon’s my patriarch

My dream, glowing in the dark

She’s a vision, no feel, no mound

Only a voice, without sound

A distant shining, so forlorn

My heartache until dawn

She’s a pillow, no caress, no kiss

Only a voice, from beyond the mist

Ivor Steven (c) July 2022

G’day, and welcome to my blog site. My name is Ivor Steven, I live in Geelong, Australia. I’m an ex-industrial chemist, and a retired plumber, and a former Carer of my wife(Carole), for 30 years, who suffered from severe MS. I Write poetry about those personal thoughts, throughout and beyond my life as a Carer…

View original post 51 more words

My Guiding Light

“Dad”



My Guiding Light


Seven years have gone bye

But who counts stars in the sky

Or the passing blue moons

Waving shadows upon blue lagoons

A waterfall’s pool of liquid joy

Shimmering memories, of when I was a boy


I shiver from yesteryear’s leftover rains

And there will always be a deep river in my veins

Dad, you were a brother and best mate too

And your ever-loving spirit guides me through




Ivor Steven (c) July 3rd 2022

Today’s Fragments

Below; I have formed one poem out of four Haiku that I wrote this morning, and I have many fractured thoughts within my soul today, a decade after Carole’s passing on May 3rd 2012 at 1.15pm …

Today’s Fragments
(A four Haiku poem)



I am who I am
I can’t use another tram 
She’s my hologram

I sit beside her 
Next to yesterday’s campfire 
Candles in the wind 

A red flame flickers 
Under her celestial star 
My eternal light  

On my island home 
Winds blow from across the sea 
Completion awaits 






Ivor Steven (c) May 3rd 2022

‘Til Death Do Us Part

Back on the 2nd of May 2012, I thought this poem was going to be the last piece I would ever write … finality for my wife was near, and my mind was adrift on the horizon. … little did I know, that in few months time, her spirit and enthusiasm for life, would become the inspirational source for the revival of my poetry writings, and now a decade later “Carole’s” amazing zest for life, still influences my every thought behind the words I write …

‘Til Death Do Us Part


She’s there, in that tall pale building of brick.

Where the Nightingales care and tend to the sick.

She’s there, away from home and her comforting bed.

Where the Doctors try to fix the endless ills from her head.


She’s there, and her absence reminds me of future plights.

Where my anxieties for her her well being endure her fight.

She’s there, and I need to visit her all day, and every night.

Where the distance to reach her soul is out of sight.


She’s there, and I’m wondering about that far away dome.

Where her lost personal affection would leave her all alone.

She’s there, in those misty clouds, with church bells ringing.

Where she’s near to the sombre sounds of angels singing.


She’s there, and her constant pain remains tight in my heart.

Now I’m convinced, just like I said at the very start.

There’s no place like home for her gathering dark.

And I promise to her again, ‘til death do us part.






Ivor Steven (c) May 2nd 2022

Did Your Heart Stop Too?

Ten years ago today, it was the “Time” that I made a “heart stopping decision”


Did Your Heart Stop Too?


Did you cry too?

When the doctors told you

She was not going to recover


Did they ask you too?

About what you already knew

It was time

To flick the switch

And dim her light


Did your heart stop too?

Knowing

You had emptied her shoes


Did you sleep there too?

During those infinite days of blue

Softly holding her hand

And not letting go


Did you weep too?

Blankly alone

In her full room

Waiting

For her last silent breath






Ivor Steven (c) April 27th 2022

A Universe Above The Sky

Walking in the rain

Wearing water-logged boots

I am dodging millipedes

And hopping over puddles

With the footpath crickets


I see a universe above the sky

As the liquid clouds

Drop their weight

Upon my empty hands

Filling them with verses

Of memories and rhymes






Ivor Steven (c) April 2022

Fruit Loopy

Early July 2017, my blog/website was only 3 weeks old when I wrote this abstract poem, ‘Fruit Loopy’ … hmmm … and I am not sure what my thoughts were at the time … but I had only been in my new little abode for 5 months, and I was finishing off building the verandah, and starting to create a courtyard garden … I suppose I was “dreaming” about how much Carole would have loved my new home, so hence the “funny title”


Fruit Loopy


The juices of expectation

are upon me again.

Dreaming of yesteryear

and clambering for today.

Through my pores

a taste of sweetness.

My apple of love

the fruit for tomorrow.






Ivor Steven (c) July 2017