.

Tonight I Sail the Dreamy Sea

Tonight I sail the dreamy sea
Where we can find tranquility.
The sails are set. The sea remote.
Just you and I within the boat.

I’ll sail to you and pick you up;
Then we can dine and we can sup.
A picnic lunch within a dream
While sailing on the silver stream.

A kiss to start our trip of leisure
Leading us to greater pleasure.
Temperature from hot to mild.
Imagination running wild.

We wish the night would never end,
But there are those who still depend
Upon our presence in the day;
So on our sea we cannot stay.

Another night we can return
And in the boat our candles burn
Until the morning sun shines in,
When we return to earth again.

.

.

I Am the Keeper of Memories

I am the Keeper of Memories
In a scrapbook in my mind,
The senses there are quickened
With snapshots I can find
Detailing in a second,
Everyone I knew.
While flashing through the pages,
I always think of you.

A rose within my garden
Can never smell as sweet,
As memories I garnered
And stored within my “Keep.”
You are forever present,
And but a thought away.
I wish that I could tell you
My memories someday.

The time will come I’m certain
When memories left are few
Within the vaulted ceilings,
The etchings fade from view.
The time has come to write them
So memories pass along
Retaining all their figures
With colors bold and strong.

Out there beyond the sunset,
When my days are done,
I still will keep your memory
Somewhere beyond the sun.
You may feel my presence
In the breeze or by the trees,
And then you may remember,
I’m the Keeper of Memories.

.

.

LTC Roy E. Peterson is a writer, retired U.S. Army Military Intelligence Officer, Foreign Area Officer, and Foreign Commercial Officer who currently resides in Texas.

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12 Responses

  1. Brian Yapko

    These are both quite beautiful, Roy. I especially enjoyed the Keeper of Memories, which has many honest, bittersweet moments to savor. Happy Valentine’s Day.

    Reply
    • Roy E. Peterson

      I am feeling blessed by your wonderful comments, Brian. Happy Valentine’s Day to you in return.

      Reply
  2. Jeff Eardley

    Roy, I love, and can identify with both these. I think it a privilege to share our poetic offerings with some of the finest writers on the planet on this special day.
    Best wishes to you my friend and happy Valentines.

    Reply
    • Roy E. Peterson

      You are so right about this great forum to share our poetic offerings. I greatly appreciate such awesome comments, especially your identification with what I wrote. Happy Valentine’s Day, my friend!

      Reply
  3. Margaret Coats

    Roy, you create an interesting mystic effect in “Tonight I Sail.” The poem seems to waver in and out of dreams, but with the pleasing reality images so well-defined I’ll call them prismatic. “Keeper of Memories” deals with a favorite topic of mine, the presence of everything that’s ever entered our senses as present somewhere in memory, because memory is a power of the soul. We don’t have total recall, and much is suppressed in the enormous volume of experience that we can’t sort out. And the failure of the physical organ of the brain leads to apparent memory loss, as you speak of in the third stanza, advising us to write of memories. I certainly agree with your perspective in the last stanza; with the locus of memory in the soul, nothing is missing as long as the soul exists. Good contributions for Saint Valentine’s Day!

    Reply
    • Roy E. Peterson

      I really love you defining the images as “prismatic.” Wonderful concept. Your identification of “the presence of everything that’s ever entered our senses as present somewhere in memory” fits my own thoughts about the soul. I have been fortunate to be blessed with a memory even at my age that recalls sights in color and sounds (including subjects of conversation) back to the age of 2 years old. Thank you for your kind thoughts and amplification!

      Reply
  4. Adam Wasem

    Can’t get much more dreamy than “Tonight I sail.” It could be a lullaby for adults.

    Reply
  5. Yael

    Both poems sound like beautiful head trip captures in time, conveying a loving and slightly melancholy yet relaxed attitude on the part of the speaker, who seems to be enjoying himself in his own inner surroundings. Definitely not your average love poems!

    Reply
  6. Roy E. Peterson

    Wonderful comments, Yael, that are discerning of how I feel sometimes when I write a poem!

    Reply
  7. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Roy, these two beautiful poems have lifted this reader beyond the words and into heavenly realms that speak of that all-consuming love that envelops those who are blessed with this gift with the priceless treasures earthly riches cannot buy. I love the first for its tangible sensuality. I love the second for the marvels the mind offers… I particularly like; ” You are forever present, / And but a thought away.” In these days of separation from those we hold dear, those perfect lines say everything. Thank you.

    Reply
  8. Norma Pain

    I really enjoyed these two beautiful love poems Roy. They are a balm to our anxious lives and transport us to peaceful places on our only home, the earth. Thank you.

    Reply

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