John Geddes

“...you fantasize about me reading my poems to you - it doesn't work that way - I write down everything later - living is not an after-thought...”

“... paint in blue and black...sometimes gray - the colors of night - occasionally I surprise you with a mustard yellow, but then, I am a poet ...”

“...freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin - inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night...”

“...across the snowy field the barn light gleams - it's the loneliness of November twilight...”

“...at morning, I'm unruffled - I'll sit with my tea and Muse Cat beside me and listen to the soft chime of the grandfather clock...”

“...careful the morning lest it wake from slumber the city half-encumbered by the morning mist ...”

“...at dawn, the grains of sleep turn to floating black spots, then out of focus the world tilts, and the cat scratches at the door...”

“...I see you as series of gestures, a palette of colors -all these tiny tiles pixelate, and then coalesce... into the idea of you...”

“...you can be talented as a wolf is breathtakingly fierce...silver and gray, like smoke in the trees - but what do you do with terrible beauty?...”

“...when I think of you it's with tears, because no one else has such delicate hands that can reach into my soul and calm my fears...”

“...when I met you, you were so beautiful, the air around you vibrated with color ...”

“...I pluck every day from my sweater or chair, red hairs...strands of significance, traces of you in my life ...”

“...I hardly ever see your profile, but have I told you it's beautiful? - like the soft gentle lines of snow...”

“...Everyone struggles to guard their heart from breaking, when they should desire to have a heart that breaks...”

“...all kinds of images swim like tropical fish in the bathysphere inside my skull ...”

“...you can have a dark heart and be a writer, but you can't have a black one..”

“...to know an other's interior life you are his confessor or a writer - the one is admitted freely, the other intrudes by discerning of spirits ”

“...you merely look at me and I want to confess, but don't - I've buried my heart under the floor boards, but you always dig it up...”

“...telling doesn't help me - it helps you. As Wilde says, It is the confession, not the priest, that gives absolution...”

“I send my words to you over the ether net like a message in a bottle...”

“...you found me in my lonely labyrinth and like Beatrice, led me out of my own hell...”

“...little children adore me - I'm a Troll Tamer and they know it!...”

“...before you, I was a doubled-up fist - now I can hold soft things, fragile as butterfly wings...”

“...there's nothing more lovely than your lamplight, seen from a dark street...”

“...Other women I can flatter and praise – but to you, I must tell the truth...”

“...I can’t grasp the stars, but I love them – in the same way, I love you...”

“...I remember your profile in darkness outlined by stars ...”

“...once I saw you in moonlight and I can tell you - the silvery dust of the stars doesn't shimmer like you...”

“...I wish I could tell the tale of your beauty as my rough hands caress your face...”

“...Ah, but the Moon my Love is jealous, and can you blame him? You outshine him with your virtues...”

“...I'm shy in person - so afraid to confess my love - I need a go-between - our mutual friend, the Moon...”

“...love is suffering - that's the happy ending...”

“...beneath torrents of spring rain, buds come to life - and we do too, beneath torments of tears...”

“...I always thought youth were idealists - now, I'm not so sure - I'm more idealistic now then at 17...”

“...true love is my religion...”

“...how many writers still dare compare a woman to Nature, like Campion? - there is a garden in her face - how lovely...”

“...all these epic battles and monsters lately - but love is a tiny world and I prefer a more personal style...”

“...some of the best love poems have been written by monks and nuns...”

“...what else would a poet priest do on an endless night, but write of love?...”

“...everything I treasure is broken - it's of no use to anybody but me...”

“...you can't rationalize suffering - it's indeterminate - the real unknowable variable God substitutes in...”

“...the real absurdity is that to love is to suffer, but the reverse isn't always true...”

“...it was inevitable I loved you - we were soul mates - for the same reason, we were fated to suffer...”

“...it's always somebody's fault - I blame you for my helpless love - do you think I chose this? Your beauty compelled me...”

“...you go back to liberate the captives and sadly realize, some want to remain tied down in the cave...”

“...the furnace of affliction comes from doing what seems right in our own eyes...”

“...you must never partly love or stop half way - because then, you become superficial and cannot be deeply hurt or loved...”

“...the magic of love runs at cross purposes with the rhythm of living...”

“...never be disappointing - you may wound me, but you must never be disappointing...”

“...you betrayed me, but after all those years I discover, my tears have wiped the slate clean...”