How sudden-keen am I aware,
And never as before,
Of a radiance arising,
To shine from every pore.
Your breath alone, I’d long to feel
Its tingle on my skin,
While visions of your tenderness,
Turn butterflies within.
You are the very best I’m sure,
A man could aspire to.
No, there’s never been another,
Quite as beautiful as you.
They all shall fade to shadows now,
Insignificant and plain.
How perfect would my life then be,
If you only knew my name.
How joyful and how rich at last,
My days would then become.
If you would only turn and look at me,
I’d feel I had begun.
I’d sense a movement in the air,
That all was not the same,
That the world was not so empty,
As it was before you came.
Was it not the world that gifted me,
This simple heart to crave?
Why then must I feel its pity,
Carved in verse upon my grave?
I want the world to know me,
As I think I have been made,
As a man whose love for loveliness,
Cannot bide long in the shade.
So look at me and speak my name,
And know that I am yours,
Or shall you pass me by again,
And let slam shut the door?
And slamming shut, loud let it ring,
Then how long shall it be,
Before I can accept at last,
You were not meant for me?
MG
The Rivendale Review 
Hello Michael
This is really beautiful – thank you
Jim
Hello again Michael
I am sure you know the German concept of ‘Sehnsucht’ – your work always reminds me of the Heimat series of films by the famous Director Edgar Reitz
see (if you like!) :
http://www.heimat123.net/
http://www.heimat123.de/
Hello Jim,
Thanks very much – I’m glad you liked the poem. Actually I wasn’t familiar with the word “Sehnsucht” – there are some very big gaps in my cultural education – but I’ve been looking the word up and yes, it sums up a lot of my writing – a longing for something, but a thing that’s indefinable, other than to say it’s missing.
I do remember Heimat on the TV, back in the 80’s – that was a marathon of a series! Strangely, when hopping about online surfing Sehnsuch and Heimat links, I landed on serendipitious references to C.S. Lewis, which reminded me of another gap in my cultural education, and have just ordered one of his books – Pilgrim’s Regress. It cost a penny, plus £3.00 postage. So thanks again.
Hope you’re keeping well and you’re looking after that Volvo!
The Mazda continues to be a delight, while the poor old Vauxhall sulks and slowly succumbs to the dreaded tin-worm.
Regards
Michael
Hello Michael
I’m afraid I’ve become a Volvo bore! – re-reading some of my ‘comments’ to you makes me shudder slightly – apologies. Your Mazda is a fine car – with beautiful styling – enough said.
I spend far too much time watching and talking about my various Heimat DVD’s – his work is very addictive – or perhaps I’ve just become a Heimat Bore too!
Anyway – for me this is ‘Sehsucht’ and a yearning for a student life that never happened – not to this James Watt College Greenock boy anyway!
Clarissa’s song ‘zwei fremden augen’ expresses it perfectly (for me) – and at 66 moves me to tears every time! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcp_SMjx2FE
If you like – try this u-tube link for ‘Heimat 1-2-3’ and ‘Die Andere Heimat’
I too read the C.S. Lewis reference some years back – Do you buy from Abe Books – I do – My long-suffering wife bought me a 3-volume interleaved edition of Walter Scott’s ‘The Antiquary’ from a private library at Glasgow University – all via Abe Books – it’s beautiful !
Hi Jim, you mustn’t think you’re a Volvo bore. It was your enthusiastic motoring tales that reignited my own love of driving, something I lost during the last thirty years of commuting. Between you and my sons who are as yet un-jaded by life, I have become a born-again petrol head. I’m equally guilty of being an MX5 bore – but I do love that car. My wife says she can tell as it’s the only one I bother cleaning.
I have bought the occasional title from Abe-books, though the CS Lewis one was cheaper on Amazon – through a third party supplier – mind you it hasn’t turned up yet!
Thanks for that Heimat link. I was mesmerised by it. Very compelling.
Regards
Michael