You Are

You are my silent thoughts;

My heart’s rhythmic beating;

My soul’s deepest yearning

When loneliness tries to own me.

You are the resounding bells

Of church spires remembered

From girlhood’s cherished dreams.

You are the sunlit snow of winter –

Bright, silent diamonds sparkling

Like memories of coming years.

My love lives in the shadow

Of your smile and the lightness

Of your high-spirited laughter.

For a time, we shall walk together

While fate is generous and kind

And the love we share is strong

Against the grasping hands of time.

---

My Time to Dream

Night like a bully has chased the sun away.

All is darkness; there’s no more light of day.

All day long I’ve been a prisoner to duty

With little time to devote to things of beauty.

Now has come the time I devote to pleasure

When thoughts of you abound beyond measure.

In the innocent state of dreams, that are so few

The stars beckon surrounded by midnight blue.

In soft, hand-holding sweetness with soul so true

I fly among the singing stars searching for you

Until your voice on the wind of whirling spheres

Whispers past the solar silence to fill my ears

Saying, “Darling, you are mine for a million years.”

---

Annie Johnson is 84 years old. She is Shawnee Native American. She has published two, six hundred-page novels and six books of poetry. Annie has won several poetry awards from world poetry organizations including; World Union of Poets; she is a member of World Nations Writers Union; has received the World Institute for Peace award; the World Laureate of Literature from World Nations Writers Union and The William Shakespeare Poetry Award. She received a Certificate and Medal in recognition of the highest literature from International Literary Union for the year 2020, from Ayad Al Baldawi, President of the International Literary Union. She has three children, two grandchildren, and two sons-in-law. Annie played a flute in the Butler University Symphony. She still plays her flute.