.

Riverside Breeze

___How beautiful you look
__Browsing the flowers one by one
_While lying down along the babbling brook;
___And there, beneath the sun,
__Whose melting kisses mark your skin,
_The faintest of the zephyrs overrun
___The linen, wearing thin,
__Of your translucent floral dress,
_And as you fall asleep they soon begin
___With whispers to caress
__Your lobes, your cheeks, your nose, your chin,
Gently to fan away the dream that draws you in.

.

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Daniel Joseph Howard studied law in his native Ireland, earned an MA in philosophy at King’s College London and worked for the European Commission. He is currently a pensionnaire étranger at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, as well as a Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate in the United States.

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15 Responses

  1. Mark Stellinga

    A very moving and beautiful piece, Daniel, and, fortunately, I’ve now spent 52 wonderful years adoring the gal by whom I was thoroughly smitten as a lad. I’m as ‘whipped’ as it gets and loving every minute – nice work.

    Reply
    • Daniel Howard

      Hopefully more than just a fantasy at one point or another in everyone’s life!

      Reply
  3. Paul A. Freeman

    An ephemeral snapshot of the best of times.

    Nicely done, Daniel.

    Reply
    • Daniel Howard

      Thanks, Phil. The intention was to create of flow of lines written in trimeter, tetrameter and pentameter closed with an alexandrine.

      Reply
      • Julian D. Woodruff

        Ditto the praise from the others. It seems you have fashioned a celebration of feminine beauty equivalent to what Fragonard might have done with the subject. Elegant and expressive.

  5. Margaret Coats

    This is splendid scene painting, Daniel, with brush strokes of varied line length–each line contributing a precise element of meaning. The only striking enjambment is (appropriately!) “overrun.” The final line adds just a touch of concern at the dream drawing the beloved away from the presence of the speaker. A gentle lyric that fans away well-deserved praise.

    Reply
  6. Cynthia L Erlandson

    Wow, I love this poem! Its structure — the 3-4-5 metrical pattern of the lines, and the fascinatingly interwoven rhyme scheme — is marvelous. And I love the beautiful scene it portrays and the charming feelings it expresses.

    Reply
  7. C.B

    This poem is no-kidding enchanting, with a deep and gratifying subtext.

    Reply

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