‘Twere better we had parted years ago
When both were young, before the scorn of Time
Had ravaged youth and beauty’s tender glow,
Robbing sweet innocence—his cruelest crime.
Now long apart, with memory left to stand
As tribute to love’s lusty, languorous days,
My heart still craves your beauty’s soft command—
Faint visions worn yet warmed by words of praise.
But when I face that chill, unyielding glass,
To brave reflected proof of my estate,
Your youthful visage, by recall unmasked,
Returns to me—a soft, sweet, welcome wraith.
I look at you; your image melds with me—
There both made 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 through flesh and bone
And studded mace oft grazed my close-cropped crest;
A dragoon’s lance once pierced my naked flank;
A musket ball struck down 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 were 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 may yet live.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

To fault past lovers is a waste of blame,
For hearts in concert craft their own demise;
Though one may try the other yet by shame
And each to each, lost virtue there decries.
Both souls complicit in the journey’s end,
Malignant action or neglect benign—
While 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 love’s 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 waking spring
Lead my mind to the memory of your smile,
To days long past, whose visions softly 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,
Or 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 still smiles, and you return to me.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Peerless she stood, unmatched in grace and reach,
Embossed in hearts—a sylph untouched by time;
A beauty none with mortal tongue impeach,
Her virtues sung as murmured hymns sublime.
Arresting all who saw her grace a room,
Each eye her loyal subject, fixed in prayer;
All lips fell dumb—the air still as a tomb,
All thought surrendered to her radiance there.
What sovereign can so rule by gaze alone,
Her smile observed as though divine decree,
All pride and purpose seeming overthrown—
All hearts detained in silent fealty.
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 tongues,
As gathered souls affirm the truth love brings,
In reverent hymns or songs from joyous lungs.
Celestial light—the matrimonial sun—
Soars over mountains and engulfs the land
Uniting glorious dreams of two as one,
Crowned purpose sure, forever so to stand.
But bands of gold can dull, debased by time;
And lofty pledges fall upon stone ears,
Sung hymns may lose all timbre, pace and rhyme
And effervescent smiles dissolve 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.

Sweet spring! The resurrection of the world—
Resurgence of new life upon the land;
Wintertide’s retreat, its frosty flag now furled,
‘Midst piping songs and flowered sweet command;
There heralding summer’s conquest, green and bold,
Burgeoning emerald riches from the sun,
Abounding trees and fields with verdant gold—
With fruit full-burdened, bending branches down;
So on to autumn with its piquant hues,
The orange, the yellow and blood-crimson red,
Resplendent hills besplashed in paint anew,
Late summer’s bounty brimming every shed.
A pageantry of life in seasoned time;
Each trip around our orb—a gift sublime.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

What will you think of me when I have gone
To windswept shore or yet proud rising land,
Off to those dreams I fed my soul upon,
My rod or rifle steady in my hand;
Beyond the sad corruption of the day
And darkened dreams that haunt the sullied night,
To timeless hope where way leads to blessed way,
Pastoral scenes to ever grace my sight.
Will you remember then all battles fought,
Great wars fair won, and those lost in despair,
Where win or lose, true victory was sought—
My glory or defeat in measured share;
And when they play for me the final fife,
Recall from every score—I bled pure life.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Do you recall betwixt those smoldering sheets
Where passioned loins did oft ignite with fire—
Dark sultry eyes that burned in lust replete,
Hot breath the bellows of pure lust’s desire?
There did I hold your fervor in my arms,
And feel the heat of ravenous, raging thighs
Drawn deep within the cauldron of your charms,
Soon spasm quenched, amidst sin-searing cries?
Then sweat on sweat the pyre’s zeal assuaged,
As breast to breast two furnaces did roar,
While craving hands implored that love spent swage
To rise and ream the steaming rent once more.
By ardor razed, no embers left to quell;
Braised full to glow in heaven—and sweet hell.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

For you shall live forever in this rune,
That future eyes your wonders may astound,
And softer far than lines in chiseled stone,
From love’s own lips, no grander praise be found.
Though portraits and mementos may attest
Devotion marked by lovers long since passed,
A lyric memory where true love’s confessed
Shall be the sweeter shrine that Time outlast.
Of peerless beauty here I humbly scrive,
Pure sterling virtue, grace beyond compare,
Angelic harmony of heart divine
With elegance to makes a sovereign stare.
May golden ink flow from this humble pen,
To here prove worth that shan’t be seen again.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.