Before.... looking forward.. planning.. spotting.. catching eyes...

Unrequited Love - James Kelly

Why are you mine in dreams only
and his to hold in warm embrace?
Why are my nights so cold so lonely
Every second every minute seeing your face

I long to cradle you in my arms and
Taste the sweetness of your breath
I long to woo you win you with my charms
Never to lose you, not even in death

I have a love we'll never share
A song we'll never sing
For if I reach out I know you're not there
Unrequited love is a woeful wonderful thing.


In love or out of love we are suspended as in a limbo
created by the presence of or the lack of someone else
As always when we love
we forget how many limbos
there are yet to come. Rod McKuen


from I'm Not Afraid - Rod McKuen



coming together
staying apart
lost in diversions
dancing starts
caught in the quiet
off on our own
coming together
staying alone..


Parlour Games - Ian Walton

There is a look it's better to ignore
a whisper in the eye, a sideward glance
designed to steal the heart and gently draw
those half breathed sighs that make the maybes dance.

There is a touch it's safer to deny
an accidental brush against the skin
an artful stroke that makes you wonder why
it leaves the smell of stranger lingering

There is a voice it's wiser not to hear
a siren's breath that comes from the sea
the words unspoke, unsaid, that you most fear
the cryptic code of lovers yet to be.

But if you should resist, you know the cost.
A lifetime's longing for a moment lost.

"that vague oppressive excitement in the heart which is the foretaste of love." Turgenev, Fathers and Sons

" tu n'as pas d'amour? ce n'est pas grave, j'en ai pour deux."
Le Shrimp


The Worst of all Loves - Douglas Dunn

Where do they go, the faces, the people seen
In glances and longed for, who smile back
Wondering where the next kiss is coming from?

They are seen suddenly, from the top decks of buses
On railway platforms, at the tea machine
When the sleep of travelling makes us look for them.

A whiff of perfume, an eye, a hat, a shoe,
Bring back vague memories of names,
Thingummy, that bloke, what's-her-name.

What great things have I lost, that faces in a crowd
Should make me look at them for one I know?
What are faces that they must be looked for?

But there's one face, seen only once,
A fragment of a crowd. I know enough of her.
That face makes me dissatisfied with myself.

Those we secretly love, who never know of us,
What happens to them? Only this is known.
They will never meet us suddenly in pleasant rooms.


contingency plans - Anna Strong
what about all those others?
the ones you could love
if you didn't love one already?
or you didn't have any morals
or you lived somewhere eastern where harems were ok?
how can you tell they wouldn't be better?
do you just keep trying...
or compromise

It happens.. getting on... getting off... getting down... mmmm...

Toes - Ian Walton

You see
You don't know
The things that have to happen
once you tentatively dip your little toe
into the water

One toe;
Two toes;
on it goes until you're paddling
and will not end
until your wet and naked body's
straddling mine:
you see, I've found
one toe........
you drown.


After the lunch - Wendy Cope

On Waterloo Bridge I am trying to think:
This is nothing. You're high on the charm and the drink.
But the juke box inside me is playing a song
that says something different.
And when was it wrong?

Don't ask what it was all about
I haven't got a clue
I spent a blissful evening, lost
in carnal thoughts of you. Wendy Cope

The Ambush - Brian Patten
When the face you swore never to forget,
Can no longer be remembered,
When a list of regrets are torn up and thrown away
Then the hurt fades,
And you think you've grown strong.
You sit in bars and boast to yourself,
"Never again will I be vulnerable.
It was an aberration to be so open,
A folly never to be repeated."
How absurd and fragile such promises.
Hidden from you, crouched
Among the longings you have suppressed
And the desires you imagine tamed,
A sweet pain waits in ambush.
And there will come a day when in a field
Heaven's mouth gapes open,
And on a web the shadow
of a marigold will smoulder
Then without warning,
Without a shred of comfort,
Emotions you thought had been put aside
Will flare up within you and bleed you of reason.
The routines which comforted you,
And the habits in which you sought refuge
Will bend like sunlight under water,
And go astray.
Your body will become a banquet,
Falling heavenwards.
You will loll in spring's sweet avalanche
Without the burden of memory,
And once again
Monstrous love will swallow you.


When I'm above you I feel like the sky - Barbara Esstman

your finger, sadly, has a familiar ring about it. Roger McGough

The Thickness of Ice - Liz Loxley
At first we'll meet as friends
(Though secretly I'll be hoping
we'll become much more
and hoping that you're hoping that too)

At first we'll be like skaters
testing the thickness of ice
(with each meeting
we'll skate nearer the centre of the lake)

Later we will become less anxious to impress
less eager than the skater going for gold.
(The triple jumps and spins
will become an old routine:
we will become content with simple movements).

Later we will not notice the steady thaw,
the creeping cracks will be ignored.
(And one day when the ice gives way
we will scramble to save ourselves
and not each other.)

Last of all we'll meet as acquaintances
(though secretly we'll be enemies,
hurt by missing out on a medal,
jealous of new partners).

Last of all we'll be like children
Having learnt the thinness of ice,
(Though secretly perhaps we may be hoping,
to break the ice between us
and maybe meet again as friends.)

Prelude - Wendy Cope
It wouldn't be a good idea
to let him stay.
When they know each other better -
not today.
But she put on her new black knickers
Anyway.

Her Song - Brian Patten
For no other reason than I love him wholly
I am here; for this one night at least
The world has shrunk to a boyish breast
On which my head, brilliant and exhausted, rests.
For this one night at least.

Let the dawn assemble all its guilts, its worries
and small doubts that, but for love, would infect this perfect heart.
I am as far beyond doubt as the sun.
I am as far beyond doubt as is possible.

Fine Wine - Alice Fish
He poured me fine wine til
I could barely resist him.
But I did, ran off home
and painfully missed him.
(And now I'm dreaming, regretting,
and wishing I'd kissed him.)

Precautions - Marin Sorescu
I pulled on a suit of mail
made of pebbles
worn smooth by water.

I balanced a pair of glasses
on my neck
so as to keep an eye
on whatever was coming from behind.

I gloved and greaved,
my hands, my legs, my thoughts,
leaving no part of my person
exposed to touch
or other persons.

Then I fashioned a breastplate
from the shell
of a eight hundred year old turtle.

And when everything was just so
I tenderly replied
- I love you too.

from Obsession - A S Byatt
Mine the long night
the secret place
where lovers meet
in warm embrace
in purple dark
in silvered kiss
forget the world
and grasp your bliss.

A Song In April - Adrian Henri
Come close, my love and tell me
April will never end
That daffodil like gorse bush
Will last to the year's end

That lambs will dance for ever
And lovers never part.
Come close upon my pillow
and still my restless heart.

Love - Tracy Wyatt
Breathe gently on love do not disrupt the
feather thin cover that protects
the young lovers.

There's More - Alice Fish
I breathe in and recognise
the comforting signature of
smoke, alcohol and aftershave
that defines you.

I listen and I hear
the deep resonance of
laughter, chat and heartbeat
that surrounds you.

I reach out and touch
the complex sculture of
clothing, curves and living warmth
that is you.
There's more to you than meets the eye.

For DH one of many - Alice Fish
Completely unaware
I never knew
that you would care.

I never knew
you'd be the one
to lift my life
and make it fun.

Valentine - Wendy Cope
My heart had made its mind up
And I'm afraid its you.
Whatever you've got lined up,
my heart has made its mind up
And if you can't be signed up
This year, next year will do.
My heart has made its mind up
And I'm afraid its you.

from A Lot of Water - Roger McGough
I remember
I remember how
when we lay together for the first time
the room smiled
said "excuse me"
and tiptoed away.

Please Please Me - James Kelly
Promise never to leave me
lie, cheat or otherwise deceive me
And don't run around with my best friend
it would drive me daft - clean round the bend.

If I'm bad in bed please fake it
Never tell the truth, I couldn't take it.
Don't ignore me when I greet you
and please turn up when I'm waiting to meet you.

Don't break my heart and steal my pride.
Tear me apart and kill me inside.
Because that's the day I'll turn and flee
The day you turn round and behave like me.

Semi-Automatic Love
Your love is like a neutron bomb
A total killer that's a fact
Your kisses blew my brains away
But left my lips intact.

Your smile is like a laser gun
As bright as light can be
I'm as cold as a dull dead sun
Until you shine on me.

Your mind is like a hand grenade
Throwing shrapnel all around
Your laughter like a fusillade
Shot me to the ground

Your heart is like an armoured car
Protected from all danger
A sentry calling "Who goes there?"
Don't treat me like a stranger.

Going steady... happy.. calm... usually....

I have lately learned to swim
and now feel more at home
in the ebb and flow
of your slim rhythmic tide
than in the fullydressed
couldn'tcareless
restless world outside. Roger McGough

The Love Sleep - Gavin Ewart
In an exciting world of love-bites, nipple-nipping,
unbuttoning and zipping,
kisses that are
the highest form of communication,
the lovers experience their timeless elation.

Perhaps they reach those peaks where, like a bomb exploding
the angels sing, encoding
ecstacies that
our language can never really deal with -
its nouns and adjectives that no one can feel with.

but when the woman lies in the man's arms - soft, sleeping
in perfect trust and keeping
faith, you might say,
that is the truest peace and disarming -
no one can sleep in the arms of an enemy, however charming.

Don't Look - Adrian Henri
Don't look in my eyes, then
look at the dragonflies
glittering look at the river.

Don't listen to my words
listen to the crickets
laid in the hayfield listen to the water.

Don't touch me
don't feel my lips my body
feel the earth alive with sedges
trefoil, valerian feel the sunlight.

My lady
these things I bring you
don't see only know
a landscape in your body
a river in my eyes.

Lover of Friend? - Liz Loxley
Whether I came
As lover or friend
I lacked the certainty
of a relationship.

I know we kissed
and we held hands
but lover and friends
make both demands.

We shared some wine
We shared some bread
and later on
we shared your bed.

But we shared no knowledge.
of who we were
In the social terms of
"Are he and her?"

We shared the darkness
The sounds from the street
And sometime in the night
A hand crossed the sheet.

"Halt who goes there?
Lover or friend?"
In the darkness I recognise you
As one and the same.

Being Boring - Wendy Cope

"may you live in interesting times" - chinese curse

If you ask me "What's new?" - I have nothing to say
Except that the garden is growing.
I had a slight cold but it's better today. I
'm content with the way things are goin.
Yes, he is the same as he usually is,
Still eating and sleeping and snoring.
I get on with my work, he gets on with his. I
know this is all very boring.

There was drama enough in my turbulent past:
Tears and passion - I've used up a tankful.
No news is good news, and long may it last.
If nothing much happens, I'm thankful.
A happier cabbage you never did see,
my vegetable spirits are soaring.
If you're after excitement, steer well clear of me.
I want to go on being boring.

I don't go to parties. Well, what are they for,
if you don't need to find a new lover?
You drink and you listen and drink a bit more
And you take the next day to recover.
Someone to stay home with was all my desire
And, now that I've found a safe mooring,
I've just one ambition in life, I aspire
To go on and on being boring.

And then it all goes wrong....

Alcoholic - dunno who wrote it
I'm an alcoholic for your love
But then I think you've heard
You've left me pretty shaken
Did I ever leave you stirred?
You said we'd drink each other dry.
Seems you're not thirsty any more.
So you've left me with the empties.
Sipping heartache through a straw.

Plea - Alice Fish
A limbo
of not knowing
and caring far too much.

A quandary.
Is it right?
Or am I wrong?

A mystery.
Is it my fault?
Is it yours?

A hope
please please please
Just let it work.

Maybe Tomorrow - Tracey Wyatt
Maybe tomorrow
Maybe tomorrow
Sooner or later I'll forget. Maybe tomorrow the pain will go and I'll
be able to throw away these letters. Maybe tomorrow
I'll be able to face your smile,
Your laughing eyes not laughing at me
Not smiling at me
But at another.
Maybe tomorrow I'll take my life
Because the pain's too great and I'm weak without you.
Maybe tomorrow.

Postscript - Anna Strong
Do what you want
Just leave me alone
My body is mine
My life is my own

Go where you like
Just away from me
Don't care where you are
Don't care who you see

Kiss who you want
Go where you will
Cos all that you wanted
Was me and my Pill.

Mess - Wendy Cope
Heres a fine mess we got ourselves into
My angel my darling true love of my heart
Etcetera.Must stop it but I can't begin to.
Heres a fine mess we got ourselves into -
Both in a spin with nowhere to spin to,
Bound by the old rules in life and in art.
Heres a fine mess we got ourselves into,
(I'll curse every rule in the book as we part)
My angel, my darling, true love of my heart .






Gone - Anna Strong
you know it's right
but it feels wrong.
you know you needed to
but you wish for a second you hadn't.
the house echoes with loneliness.
but you don't hear it
cos you're not making any noise to make echoes.
you sitting, you're wondering,
"what next?.
who will join me in these rooms?
and will he be right or another wrong?"
but tonight it doesn't matter.
tomorrow move on
tonight just burrow down under the blanket
or go out, get pissed and start it all again....

If you're weak enough to leave me I'm strong enough to let you go - Fay Hart


I wish I could break all clocks
and turn back the time to when we were
happily entwined.
I watch the telephone afraid to dial your number,
knowing you won't answer anyway
but my tongue still burns scalded with goodbye. Anna Landucci


..now that I'm sober and stopped fucking weeping
I can't say theres much that you gave me worth keeping. Aidan Moffatt.




You, who loved me - Marina Tsvetayeva
You, who loved me with the deceptions
of Truth - and the truth of lies.
You, who loved me - beyond all distance!
- Beyond Boundaries!

You who loved me longer
Than time - your right hand soars! -
You... don't love me any more.
That's the truth in six words.

The Cynic's Only Love Poem - Brian Patten
Love comes and goes
and often is has paused,
then comes back to see
the damage it has caused.

Her Anxiety - W B Yeats
Earth in beauty dressed
Awaits returning spring.
All true love must die,
Alter at best
Into some lesser thing
Prove that I lie.

Such body lovers have,
Such exacting breath,
That they touch or sigh.
Every touch they give
Love is nearer death.
Prove that I lie.

Infatuation..... Consummation... Desolation....... the path of all love.....

or you just feel lonely.....

Gift for a Lonely Girl - Roger McGough
Here's a poem for you love.
Put it under your pillow.
And who knows tonight
When you've cast your clothes
to the four corners of your dreams
Singers tall as trees
with velvet thighs
and eyes that tease
will assemble and in sweetest tone
sing songs composed for you alone.

And the one with eyes
the skiest blue will take you,
take you walking through
fields as yet unknown to you
And the beauty that you keep inside
your soul, will moisten, open wide.
for love's a flower you've cultivated
with tears these years you've dreamed and waited.

And so tonight
As you walk knee deep in stars
brighter than the brightest ones
I wish you this.
May tomorrow you find love
And have many sons.

the closer I've been held, the more I've learned freedom.
I am only bound when I'm alone, chained when no-one's here to love me back. Rod McKuen.

From the Prophet - Khalil Gibran
love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation

when love beckons to you, follow him
Though his ways are hard and steep.

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears (love that is not true love)

let there be spaces in your togetherness

Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
And stand together yet not too close together:
for the pillars of the temple stand apart.

From Stephen Fry - Moab is my Washpot

It is an awful privilege to be too much loved,
the kindest thing I ever did in my life was not to let him know to what degree he had destroyed my peace and my happiness.

He wanted something more than the few spasms of pleasure the limited activities of rubbing and licking and heaving and pushing could offer.
He wasn1t sure what the thing was that he yearned for but one thing he did know.
It was less acceptable to love, to ache for eternal companionship, than is was to bounce and slurp and gasp.
Love was his guilty secret....

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