.
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.
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.
Here’s to another 52 years, Mark!
Sweet fantasy.
Hopefully more than just a fantasy at one point or another in everyone’s life!
An ephemeral snapshot of the best of times.
Nicely done, Daniel.
The best of times, Paul!
How beautifully musical is Riverside Breeze.
Thanks, Phil. The intention was to create of flow of lines written in trimeter, tetrameter and pentameter closed with an alexandrine.
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.
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.
Very well spotted, Margaret!
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.
Thanks for your very kind comment, Cynthia.
This poem is no-kidding enchanting, with a deep and gratifying subtext.
I am very grateful for your comment, C.B.