Pasted below are the following poems I am submitting for your consideration:

“An Illusion,” “Lips on a Rainy Night,” “My Blossom, My Magnolia,” and “Twenty Hours One Winter Past.”

These are from my larger corpus of romance verse called “Women I Must Forget.”

I am a lifelong poet with my verse appearing most recently in The Sheltered Poet, Red Owl and The Poet’s Art.

I also place first or second each year in various state and regional poetry competitions.

Thank you for considering my work. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Vandye Forrester
Vandye@frontiernet.net


An Illusion

Before you all was darkness; loneliness by constant
companion

All that had been my life was broken and gone

Someone changed the rules of life and I did not know

Then, one night I saw an illusion

I saw your deliciously red hair,
your lovely form a delightful surprise for my
hungry eyes, your soft facial features and beauty
made me hope again

You seemed so happy and alive and I had wanted to die for
so long; it seemed a certainty, only a matter of time

You didn’t know but I watched you for a long time, afraid
to speak since all else that I had touched had turned to
dust and blown away

It was through your courage that we met, and our first
steps together made me feel alive once more

The first evening I held you in my arms I loved you

You were soft and warm and I loved again

We agreed to walk a little way on life’s paths, to see
where they would lead us. For me they lead to true
happiness

You awakened parts of me that I never knew existed

For the first time I wanted only to give. If affection
and caring were returned I would be enriched

For me, it was enough only to be with you, walking or simply in
the same room with you as you slept to listen to the
soft whisper of your breathing and smell you fragrance

Our love deepened. I gave and you too; in the mutual caring
and giving we received the blessings of deep love between
a man and woman

For the first time I accepted a woman asking no change,
knowing from bitter experience that to change was to
destroy the object of one’s love

Those days and weeks and months that we shared a home
were the happiest of my life. Would that they had
gone on for a lifetime, but it would not be

At long, long last i had what I had for most of my
life only held in my dreams - a home in which I was
loved by my woman

We made a valiant try, you and I. We both did the
very best we could to make our love and life together last

Your demons returned as did your illusion

And, so I am left with the memory of your lips, of long
walks and private talks; of our wonderful quiet Sundays
over breakfast and kisses and soft music

You gave me love, you gave me hope and in the process
you gave me new life

Your memory, my illusion, walks with me every step of my days

I love you so dearly, so deeply and in my own way
tenderly

Because you were such a woman you made me more of a
man

Thank you for the loving home that for so long in my
adult life had existed only in . . An illusion

Lips on a Rainy Night

I tasted your lips
and my fingertips kissed your breasts
for the first time at
sunset in the rain overlooking the

Crashing Pacific . . . tonight

And each of us, My Valentine, held dear our own
thoughts
about the kiss . . . and where it
might lead

Perhaps . . . ah . . . that is it

And the Pacific crashed and I held you and
tasted your lips and the
rain covered our little hiding place

But we were safe by the fire in the arms of our minds
imagination . . . and it was warm and we
wanted each other

It was warm to the skin
but also warm in the heart on
this night for lovers


And we
exchanged emotions and thoughts
and our hearts

but, not too much for we are both still
afraid . . . flowing caution

Perhaps what we had tonight . . . our lips meeting at sunset in the
rain will be more

If not, the memory of your kiss and the softness of your
womanhood will remain in my memory



My Blossom, My Magnolia

My blossom-My magnolia
I’m thinking of you
right now

I can hear your voice
And see in my memory
the soft swish of
your gown across
the bedroom floor

The touch and soft brush
Of your hair on my
cheek
your lips your breath-soft

My blossom-My magnolia
I’m thinking of you
right now

Our walks in the woods
our love by the camp
fire on the tropical
island

The thousands, nae
countless hours in
each other’s
arms
tightly
tenderly
softly, urgently-


Saturday mornings over
breakfast and love
and love, and how I
miss my magnolia

How sweet and warm
and opening flesh

My magnolia, but most
of all
my love

The Florida clouds
cast shadows across
our love
Ah, my love, my magnolia

The weekend comes
in
the
fall mountains of
north Georgia

I imagine I can see
what love with you
my love, my magnolia
would be like by a
campfire and trout
stream on the side
of a gold and red mountain - my magnolia

The sun here rises
& goes down - red,
blood red

My blood ran red for
you for so long
and does still
in my memory that
at times
seems

Real, now - I feel
like we first
met, first walked
first talked first loved

I wish it could be
again

Suppose it cannot
but it can in my
memory

If I close my eyes
only for a second

I can kiss you once
more, in my memory

Once more you are
in my arms

Once more our breasts
meet - warm, wet

In my memory
my blossom - my
Magnolia

I’m thinking of you
tonight.

Twenty Hours One Winter Past

Twenty short hours one winter past
in each others arms
in our hearts we had the
promise of a
lifetime

The hours passed
The taste of lips and the
touch
of warm, moist flesh passed

The memory of the touch of your silk hair in my hands
and on my cheek,
as will the whisper and
your cry in my ear
Stay with me, hold me, comfort me

Your voice still whispers
your lips still kiss me

Twenty short hours one winter past
in each other’s arms
in our hearts - the promise
never to come true

But truth came to each of
us in
Many
forms

The strength of my manhood
loving your beauty and softness
during those twenty
Short hours - that was
truth

And, too, truth comes in the
searching

All of my life I have
tasted sweetness and
bitterness, searching
Wondering, when will time
be mine?
and you came, then
to me softly, gently,
urgently - for twenty short
hours one winter past

For those hours the world
vanished
and I was given a dream
and I held you and
Loved you and loved you

Yes the world vanished for
those
twenty short hours
one winter past
And I was blessed with
an illusion that I had
Long ago stopped believing would
be mine - but for those
hours of promise, my illusion
clothed only in lady white
skin, in womanly flesh
my illusion was flesh and
blood, warm, sweet
breath
and timid breasts and
slender hands and
soft, maddening curves

For those twenty short hours
the world went
away and from the distance
I was given love

For twenty short hours
one
winter
past

The ice wind of our winter
past
Seemed to warm your womanhood to my touch
The flower of spring
The promise of new
life soon to follow
on
a warm summer

evening - these I held

In my arms when I held
You for

Twenty hours one winter
past

That warm summer will
come to me and its touch will remind me of
your arms

Spring and summer will bring
The taste of your womanhood
once more - I will be
physically gone, but you touched me so profoundly

That
you
Will be with me, my illusion,
my searching, my winter with
spring and summer as
kisses and touch

As I go, once more I will kiss the petals of your
breasts

I will once again feel the
silk of your hair, its
lovely brown auburn blending
Beautifully with
the pastel sheets

One last time will I hear
the
murmur
of your cry, feel
your cheek
on my neck

And, my lovely illusion
who made the world
vanish - save you and
your lover

I will still see your brown green eyes
roll
and
plead
In pain
and
pleasure

During

Our twenty hours
one winter past