The Passage of Time
Long vanished the ancient cold,
The song of the wolves, distant
Howling through the downy flakes
Drifting o’er rooftops and curling
From chimneys grown cold.
Time glows like a banked fire
Against the cold of eons past
Aching bones of lost love
Waiting in time to dance again.
Wilted the love posies given
By wooers besotted and forlorn
In the heydays of their passion
Never to hear sweet promises
Polished, refurbished and stored
In the heart-shaped boxes of time
Or wear the locks of hair in lockets
Of long dead lovers, sworn
To vows impossible to keep
Past the eons of their courtship.
Old are the dreams, forgotten
The glory of laughter and youth
To be lived as the wind whispers
Beneath the waves of thunder,
Grumbles into the caves of love,
Absorbed by the echoing walls.
Longing dies but lives in memories
Bursting forth in the glory of sunsets,
Waking on the sunbeams of morning,
And sleeping in the dust, tracked
Through the temples of timeless love.
Sacred Freedom
It’s the soul that is touched by space and time
And the heart that breaks to poignant rhyme.
A King can feel like a prisoner within his castle halls,
While the soul of the dungeon inmate soars beyond his walls.
Circumstance is what you make of your surroundings
A castle can be a fortress wherein fancy sings
Or a prison where only despair is given wings.
Each step is sacred that you walk in a free land
Thank God for freedom to choose where you stand.
Christmas Sonnet
This, our first Christmas, brings me such delights!
You are all the gifts I ever dreamed of;
Every Christmas tree trimmed with sparkling lights;
Every star on top symbolizing love.
You're every kiss beneath the mistletoe;
Every turkey, yeast roll and candied yam;
The angels I made lying in the snow;
You're my gingerbread man, my honeyed ham!
You’re every Christmas Carol I have sung;
You’re reindeer, Santa Claus and candlelight;
All the stockings filled I carefully hung;
You’re the sleigh bells imagined on Christmas Night.
You’re the glowing fireplace on Christmas Eve -
All the cookies and milk I used to leave.
Sacred Silhouette
Yours is the sacred silhouette outlined
Between me and the LIGHT of Creation –
The deep voice of love from outer space
Reaching me from the corridors of time;
The pulsating heart of constancy
Beating for me in echoing waves
Of unforgettable love, caught
In the beauty of thought and desire
To hold the night in each other's arms.
Your love touches every cell of my being.
You are the glow in the mist of morning;
The chirping cricket on the threshold
Of love’s open doorway to paradise.
You are evening’s quiet reverie
Enhancing my belief in a loving God.
You are the quiet breath of falling dew;
The glow of lilies in the moonlight.
You are a thousand fireflies lit by my desire
To know the tenderness of your ways.
You’re the taste of moonlight on my skin;
My silent steps on the path of yearning
As I walk in the sacred shadow of stars
Seeking your soul in love’s rocking cradle
Suspended from the limb of infinity.
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.
