Captain Cur Poems

In the Songbook of My Heart
The greening of my soul
Where do words survive
Where do words unfold
...

On plundered ships survivors weep
Companions sinking toward the deep
Useless prayers said on a whim;
'I pray this lifeless corpse to swim.'
...

By all the mercies fate has stamped its seal
And cast thy heart in velvet and in steel;
In velvet then both softness and delight,
In steel thy raised sword gleaming in the light,
...

Could I describe her eyes of flaming blue
Deep set beneath her cloak and velvet hood
Each flicker would pull my sight in deeper
To the very heart of the pulsing heat,
...

Young doe peer through the spectacle of night
And graze before the gates absorbing moonlight,
Speckled ones by their haunts in drowsy sleep
A natural calmness age cannot teach
...

Hell bent on retracing paths to former glory 
enterprising adventures await my return. 
Lady, loquacious in your speech, my heart employs 
libelous methods. My feelings deign to deserve 
...

Across the sunlit sea, Delilah, turned her eyes
and stood for hours, for uncounted years,
no matter how strong the waves would rise
they could not reach or wash away her tears.
...

With whom do I stand at this vexing hour 
heeding thy council or those of lesser men?  
May I once speak thy true name, Catherine,  
formidable as thy northern tower
...

In this subtle light the lakes and streams entwining
shadows sparring round the moon, a single beam is cast
upon these ruins, ancient songs of men enshrining,
echoes sounding from the hills of all thy lovers past;
...

Whom do these letters of love accuse
that stabs my heart with vitriol unfair,
have I once again misunderstood the muse
and reached for heights I never should have dared.
...