Love Song

As we lie
in the swan neck
of spent love,
my hands play the ivory
rush of your skin,
summer smooth, petal keys
sound out the first chord.

I wear you,
my sash, tag of my
loved by you state.
I am proud, rough-touched
by your tree bark hands,
climbing my sides, like
the too many times
washed cloth of your shirt.

You prickle,
raised nerves,
rash and impetuous,
the wire woollen fence
of your thighs, curves
into the wing of
our still whirring flight,

as we
count down,
curl up,
sleep.

K. S. Moore

May 14th is my Wedding Anniversary. This year, I have been married to my husband for 8 years and have known him for 16.  We have experienced so much, from those exhilarating early days to the steady rise and fall of living together, breathing each other’s triumphs and catastrophies. Feeling every move. Raging, sulking, quietening, until we find that place where we connect again.

If there is a code for life, then poetry is written right at the heart of mine, and so, it seems fitting that International Dylan Thomas Day / Dydd Dylan also occurs on May 14th.  Dylan Thomas was a great inspiration to me, growing up and beginning to write poetry at a very young age.

‘Oh as I was young easy in the mercy of his means, time held me green and dying, though I sang in my chains like the sea.’ – Dylan Thomas, Fern Hill.

I found those words on a stone in Cwmdonkin Park, Uplands, Swansea, when I was around nine years old. I was bewitched.  I never knew language could hold such beauty, could have such power.  I couldn’t breathe.  I wanted to read more.  I wanted to craft magical words of my own.

I later discovered the line belonged to a poem called ‘Fern Hill’, and after a visit to Dylan Thomas’ famous Boat House, in Laugharne, I bought a poster version of the poem and put it on my bedroom wall.  Poetry has been with me ever since.

As part of the celebrations for Dylan Thomas Day, the public were asked to create one line of love poetry and submit it for inclusion in what is hoped to be the world’s longest love poem. When the link becomes available, I will add it here.

Meanwhile, enjoy this special day.  Remember love.  Remember a man whose incredible talent reached so many people.  Think about words, always words.

Photo of Dylan Thomas’ Boat House by Gareth Lovering Photography 4,000,423 on Foter.com / CC BY-ND