R L Kilgore

About

 

Stephanie and Paul on the left and Heather and Sam on the right

Stephanie and Paul on the left and Heather and Sam on the right

 

Made in Pecos, Texas where Toressa and I grew up.  The girls in white and yellow tops are our daughters with their husbands behind them.  Beside me is my brother with his wife in front of him.texas-2007-007

This blog is devoted to sharing my poetry and music with the world.  Hopefully it will bring you some pleasure.

My Angel

 

 

Hastily written late one afternoon for a forgotten anniversary

Love’s first spark the night we met,
so casually ignited,
so gently came we failed to noticed
how intense the fire it lighted.

How many years can the flame endure?
We know thirty-nine have gone
as pearls on an endless string of love.
Eternity is not too long.

Tonight I see a cloudless sky
with stars the moon can chase,
and there I see the hand of God,
the vision of your face.

rlkilgore

           Two Lives

 

           
Hot summer nights in a small home town
When Elvis was all the rage,
Love comes so easily
At such a tender age.

 

            Enthralled,
            we explored and
            found each other.

 

Impulses of youth, so desirous
As lovers will extol,
Are surging tides of pulsing desire
Raging out of control.

 

1961    But then we lost the spark.
            Time wore off the newness
            and we wondered if it might
            be rekindled by others.

Regardless how hot may be the passion,
How intense the flame,
Youthful love will burn to embers
Till ashes only remain.

Vivid the memories, love’s first heartbreak;
A young man yearned to roam,
And a winsome lass undauntedly cast
To venture on her own.

            And so we went about our lives,
            summer camps, college,
            new friends, new romances,
            rarely speaking, let alone seeing
            each other.

Moving in tangents, ever farther apart,
Wandering from friend to affair,
Each one sought with passing time
A newfound love to share.

1965    One Autumn day, far away and lonesome
            I mailed her a letter asking if she would spend
            Thanksgiving with me if I sent her a ticket.
            She took her first airplane ride that Fall.

Destined good fortune, no fate could protest,
Bridged the yawning years,
And renewed love was found to fill
The chasm with joyful tears.

1966    We married the following summer.
            Between working and school, our families
            a thousand miles away, we held each other
            with no thought of loneliness.

           
As migrating birds surely come home to roost,
As surly as the sea
Returns to shore to find its rest,
A love was destined to be.

1968    The youth of our lives together. 
            Children came and the sweetness
            flowed like a river, on and on out sight
.
           
Amidst the flowers and occasional showers,
Two daughters in early Spring
Descended directly from heaven to earth
And taught the angels to sing.

1980     

Maturing love initially wrapped
Two hearts with warmth and wonder,
Then scaled the heights of bellowing clouds
That roar with Summer’s thunder.

1998

Without care, in early Fall,
Thoughts can tend to sorrow,
But evening’s dusk contains no dread
When hope precedes tomorrow.

2000    We saw the seasons, children came
            and left. We returned to where we started -
            just the two of us.

                       
Precious moments, Oh, so precious,
Fraught with earthly harms,
Pass as only comfort can,
In each other’s arms.

2008    We still thrill at the sight, the touch,
         the closeness of each other - in our hearts
         the teenagers of all those years ago
.

Oh, my Love, how can one bear
Leaving the other to pine?
My dearest Love, how can one bear
To be left behind?

                                       rlkilgore