Wherever You May Walk: Poem

Wherever You May Walk

Wherever you may walk, my heart goes with you.
In acceptance, in silence, in the completion
Of Absence; recognizing the emptiness of this life
When you leave my presence. In knowing that
I need to sense this vital presence as if it is
Water in the dunes; as though it is sun in polar winds.

I will speak of this emotion only if you want to hear.
I will also leave you your freedom if you so desire.
I can control my steps, but my ears strain to hear yours.
I can choose to walk away but even then my soul will
Long, long for your presence.

I hear the nightbirds though my window.
I can hear the silence of a sleepless night
That, with the fingers of dawn, have silenced
My words, desires and whatever lived within me.
I have waited so long; long did I wait for my fate.

Wherever you may walk, my heart goes with you.


Copyright (text and image): Rani Turton

Pretend, Just Pretend: Poem

Pretend, Just Pretend

As I write these lines, simple words that
Tear at my heart; pour from my heart
As they say what I cannot say: as they speak
The unimaginable, the words I left aside
For another day

Pretend, just pretend that I am,
That I am the one you love
Here before you, here at last
Waiting, for the words I want to hear
Words for which I hadn't asked;
Words that wound and sear

I am this moment. I am the thought.
I am the emotion, but alas, not thine.
I, who belong to nobody, am yours
And yours even to decline.

I am the light and the strength
I am love and its divine essence
Prtend, just prtend foe an instant that I am
The person who has your acquiescence.

There is a truth to be found in your eyes
Ah, in your eyes, so evident;
You look at me clearly; you are unaware
That, for so many summers now
You hold me in love's tricky snare.
You hold me in an emotion I can hardly bear

The quest for truth lent an edge to my rhetoric
I , in my wanderings, left intellect behind;
Reason and arument did not wisdom bestow;
My heart spoke to me, and with my soul I had
Much to discuss; much to question: but
The rain did fall and fall and the wind blow.

There were hours of contemplation
Wondering where to go and when;
You will know when I come to you
In all simplicity, no questions to ask
And no replies to give;
Pretend, just pretend you love me
For a moment, a day, for eternity.

Copyright: Rani Turton