Category: Personal Poetry

THINKING OF YOU
by Michael Langston

You’re the first thing I think of
When at dawn I awaken
And the last thing I think of
As I lie down each day.

Every day, every hour,
Not ever forsaken,
You’re in my thoughts always,
Every step of the way.

A REALLY GOOD FRIEND
by Michael Langston

A really good friend…
You turned out to be.

I want to thank you so much
For abandoning me

With no explanation,
With no farewell,
With no well-wishes,
With nothing to tell,

You might as well have told me
To go straight to hell.

Suddenly, you’re just gone!

So, lost and alone,
I can barely go on.

There’s a right way
And a wrong way
Of doing such things,

And you chose the wrong way
And all the hurt that it brings.

I might even have loved you;
Yes, it’s true!

How is it possible
To thank God enough
For the precious gift
Of knowing you?

Is that what I said
When now you treat me
As though I were dead?

I considered you my dearest
And sweetest of friends.

Too bad there’s no grave…

For you to visit
And make your amends.

LOST TO ME
by Michael Langston

I fear that I have lost you!
With each passing day
That I receive no letter,
My hope fades more
And its light shines dimmer…
Like the setting of a sun
That will never again rise,
Like a night without end
Where all hope of love dies.

WITH YOU
by Michael Langston

I was with you today…
As the warm sunlight
That touched you.

That warm light
On your face…
Was my sweet embrace.

As the cool breeze
Of this night…
Streams through your hair,

Just as I was light…
I am the wind with you there.

THREE LITTLE WORDS
by Michael Langston

These words can never hold you,
Nor take you in their arms,
Nor gently touch your moonlit face
Amidst this night’s sweet charms.

But if these words were magic,
If such things these words could do,
I’d send these words,
These words of love,
To be tonight with you.

THE BEAUTY OF YOUR HAIR
by Michael Langston

The beauty of your hair
Surpasses the beauty
Of all else in nature
As the most glorious feature
Of God’s most glorious creation:

More beautiful than the clouds,
More beautiful than the sky,
More beautiful than the sunset,
More beautiful than the rainbow,
More beautiful than the stars,

More beautiful than anything!

Merely to touch but one silken strand
Would be to receive a newness of life
As a trickle of water…
To someone dying of thirst
On the sun-stricken sand.

I long to bury my hands in your hair
Till all my fingers disappear
In it there,

And all my sorrow,
And all my grief,
And all my loneliness,
And all my heartache,
And all my longing,

Till at last they are gone:

Gone!

Lost in the tresses
Of your long, streaming hair.

NEAR TO YOU
by Michael Langston

There’s no place on earth
I’d rather be,
No place on earth
Tonight…
Than somewhere
With you next to me.
It feels so very right.

You’re in my thoughts,
You’re in my dreams,
You’re in my heart,
It’s true!
No place on earth
I’d rather be…
Than near and close
…To you.

EVER FARTHER
by Michael Langston

Though once very close…
(Drawn together as lovers,
Across a continent I traveled
To stand at your side
On that snow-covered shore),
Though once very close,
You feel strangely more distant
And seem to grow ever farther…
In your heart and your spirit
I seem to fade more and more.

So many things
That we try to hold on to
Are like sand through our fingers:
In a moment they go!
It’s so very sad
When something so precious
Is melting before us
Like the late winter snow.

Apart once again,
In the dark I awaken
From dreams of us standing
Beside that cold, stormy sea,
But like a ship in that harbor
Sailing out ever farther
Into the dim seaside sunset,
So your love is to me.

LONG AGO I SAW THE SEA
by Michael Langston

Long ago I saw the sea;
  I walked along its sunlit shore:
A distant, fading memory
  I hold and cherish evermore.

I watched the sun go down in thee.
  Its golden light upon thy waves
Still lights my heart and comforts me
  Like lamplight shone in darkest caves.

But in my dream of perfect love
  I’m not alone; she’s with me there.
Beneath the wispy clouds above
  I hold her close and kiss her hair.

I see that sunset in her eyes,
  Its golden light upon her face.
We sit beneath the star-filled skies;
  Beside that sea…we long embrace.

LET ME STAY
by Michael Langston

We kissed and parted late last night;
  I left and walked along my way.
Beneath the cold and dim street lights
  I walked from where I’d wished to stay.

I reached the shadowed parking lot;
  To my dismay my keys were gone!
There’s something there that I forgot.
  I must return; I can’t go on.

When I got back, her door was locked
  Just as I had sadly feared.
But I stood and gently knocked,
  And in the doorway she appeared:

Not clad in jeans as she’d been before,
  No modest, brightly lit up blouse:
A silken, moonlit gown she wore,
  Though not intended to arouse.

Nonetheless my passion grew;
  I took her back into my arms,
And such satin smoothness then I knew!
  I had not the power to resist such charms.

So I asked if I could stay,
  If she would take me to her bed,
But that night I slept…ten miles away.
  “I can’t,” the angel softly said.