Love conquered, though I fought valiantly
Until my heart no longer stood the pain,
And there I stooped, head bowed on bended knee
As she put on the heavy gold linked chain;
‘I am your slave I said, your slave for life.
You are said she, for this and that beyond!
Show mercy! I have a child and a wife!
No more, my dear, they won’t be there for long.’
I was well treated, every want indulged
Though day by day the bonds did heavier grow;
Awash in wine, dark secrets she divulged,
I pined each day for times I used to know;
To shocked surprise gold links began to rust—
‘Twas then it dawned, this love was naught but lust.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

What miracle of life, what wonder so
That here to sacred senses beauty tends
To shape unto our minds and there bestow
Great joys that with our sorrows do contend;
Thus so with eyes I see a beauty bright,
And with keen ears I hear endearing sounds,
Her warm embrace and kisses pure delight
Wherein touch, taste and sweetest scents abound.
Still senses are but agents from abroad,
Who have returned to bring in measured form
Some semblance of a truth that may cloak fraud,
Though by gestalt, creates a cogent norm.
Some beauties are but well constructed schemes
That in the dawning, fade like sultry dreams.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

I tossed a pebble to a raging sea
From off a craggy cliff where I stood sure,
That simple smoothen stone my final plea,
In it my hopes and prayers I did immure;
The gods accepted, and the waves did calm,
Dark burly clouds gave way to precious light;
On humbled breath I hummed a reverent psalm,
Ominous greys soon bowed to colors bright.
As darkest shadow shall adjourn at dawn,
As hope may guide a prayer sweet heaven sent,
So may our demons fall to aim blessed stone
And from that pit, triumphant we ascend.
Unlikely victory is by faith begun;
Where David chose his five, I chose but one.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

I wandered through the garden, thoughts on you,
‘Midst effervescent colors and perfumes,
A sash of mottled green on trellis blue
Matching the dress you wore that day in June.
Warm dappled sunlight, laughter on the wall,
A wood thrush trills your tribute to my ears,
A butterfly my fluttering heart now stalls
And briefly, vision blurs through brimming tears.
Soft gentle breeze, fond memory of those times,
Dear love we thought back then would never end;
The distant tinkling of the garden chimes
So smites my heart and tears spill down again.
There in love’s shadowed gardens of my mind
Both solace and sweet sadness do I find.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

‘‘Tis better that we parted years ago
When both were young, before the scorn of time
Had ravaged youth and beauty cruelly so,
Robbing sweet innocents; a murderous crime.
Now long apart, with memory but to stand
As tribute to lost lusty languorous days,
For still my heart your beauty does command
In fading visions worn by words of praise.
Yet when I do accost that brutal glass
To brave mirrored measure of my estimate,
Your youthful visage does my ruin there mask
And my decline sojourns, a welcomed state.
I look at you, your image melds with me,
There now both young, and ever so to be.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

I fought the battle proud, braved every blow,
Took arrows deep inside my seething breast;
I felt the sabre cleave flesh to hard bone
And studded mace oft grazed my close cropped crest;
A dragoon’s lance once pierced my naked flank
And musket ball did drop the horse I rode
There, falling into mud and blood I sank
Rose up, grasped blade, and into combat strode.
Each conflict lost or won I faced with pride,
Each breath expressed in anger not in pain,
The tears I shed saved for the brave who died
That we live free, beyond a tyrant’s reign.
Know that this life, this blood, this breath we give
Is held in trust that freedom ever lives.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

To fault past lovers is a waste of blame,
Two hearts together craft their own demise;
Though one may try the other yet in shame
And each to each lost virtue there decry;
Both souls complicit in the journey’s end,
Malignant action or neglect benign
Then to another’s need each love may tend
To spark a jealous heart; avenge by crime.
But love so wounded ever bears the scar,
Deceit a trespass no amends erase,
Surrender may then staunch the blood of war
Though not the shameful stain of sad disgrace.
‘Tis better then to smile and say goodbye
Than have two hearts with rancor ever vie.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

The timeless blossoms of a jaunty spring
Leads my mind to the memory of your smile,
To times long past, these visions so to bring
Sweet respites where I linger for a while;
To shaded gardens where we hid from rain,
To sunny walks along a river grand;
Astride white horses, galloping the plain,
On golden beaches, footprints burned in sand;
But spring fades into summer and beyond
And love like time must have its seasons too,
I woke one morn to find that you were gone
Yet why you left, I swear I never knew;
Still when in vernal light a bloom I see
My heart does smile, and you return to me.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Peerless she was, peerless, beyond all reach-
Embossed in hearts, a sylph forever young,
A beauty rare that no tongue dared impeach
So oft in murmured praise, her virtues sung;
Arresting when she walked into a room,
At once all eyes her loyal subjects there,
All lips fell dumb, as quiet as a tomb,
Each gaze now locked into a shameless stare.
What sovereign can so rule by sight alone,
Her simple smile observed as broad decree,
All pride and purpose seeming overthrown,
All vassals such detained by grand esprit.
Gods’ mighty earth subservient to a flower;
So stands the wondrous reach of beauty’s power.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

What now of love adorned with golden rings,
Sweet vows o’er seen and blessed by reverent tongue,
Proud ears convened to hear gods’ oath now ring,
Consecrated thus in raptured song;
Celestial light, the matrimonial sun
Soars over mountain and engulfs the land
Bestowing glorious dreams of two as one,
Crowned purpose sure forever there to stand.
But rings of gold can dull, debased by time
And lofty pledge may fall on stony ears,
Sung hymns may lose all timbre, pace and rhyme
And effervescent smiles condense to tears.
The course of love lies oft beyond our will;
To hold that sacred cup, and never spill.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.