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Romantic
Definitely romantic with a small R, as in love, not Romantic
as in fantasy.
I Slept
I slept, I slumbered
I dreamt, I withdrew
And to what worlds I wandered
No man knew.
Beyond the stars, across the heavens
Past hell and through pain
When I reached the end of all
I went through it all again.
Flying swifter than the sunlight
Worlds racing by my view
Back to the gray world I left
Because only here were you.
-F. C. Stamps
15 September 2003
Background: I woke up one morning with the first stanza of this short poem in head. The "gray" in the last stanza borrows from William Butler Yeats' 1892 poem, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree."
Upon The Tor
1st person
I met am a man upon the tor
And as he walked I watched him come
When come to me he walked no more
We stopped to sleep, the day was done
3rd person
He spoke no word, nor looked about
A fire he started, as one does
He had no food, he went without
He removed his hood, a woman he was!
1st person
A coming storm saw our weary eyes
Rain came down, a cold wind blew
And only then did I realize,
She was a woman I quite well knew
Softly she spoke and said in this wise; -3/20/1994
2nd person
"The dark, cold night comes 'round about
Yet hold me in your arms,
And though the fire has gone out,
Your words will be my warmth." -3/19/1994
-F. C. Stamps
March 19-20, 1994
Background: When I think of the tor, I recall my reading of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles" in which the tor seemed to be depicted as a dark and dreary wilderness of a place. I actually have never even seen a picture of what a tor looks like. For all I know I could mispresenting the place entirely, but to me, that is what I envision a tor as being. This poem is an example of the three different points of view used in writing, first, second, and third.
I Don't Have to See You
I don't have to see you to know that you are near
I don't have to hear you to know you shed a tear
I don't have to feel you to know that you are there
I only need to be with you and know how much you care
And I don't need presents to know how much you think of me
I don't need rare gifts from far across the sea
I don't need big things, it's the little things you do--
The little things, when we're apart, that make me think of you
And you don't have to see me to know the things I fear
You don't have to hear me to hear the things I hear
Because I know that you know me, and know how much I care
So you don't have to ask me to know I'll always be there
You don't need riches to show me your love is true
You don't need anything, 'cause all I need is you
You don't need to give me the world's most precious gem
You don't have to see me to see me the way I am
We don't need to give flowers or chocolates wrapped in a bow
We don't need people to tell us what we already know
We don't need to look or hear or even say a word
Because over all the big things, the little things are heard.
-October 7, 1995
(The following stanza totally changes the message and mood of
the above poem.
It was written shortly after the rest of the poem and would not
necessarily always be included with the rest of the selection.)
I wish I could be with you
But that is never to be
I wish I still loved you
I wish you could love me
Our dream has turned to nightmare, or so it would seem
The little things that we shared are all that's left of our dream
-F. C. Stamps
Background and Explication: As with most of the love poems I have written up till this point, there was actually no one in particular in my romantic life whom I was thinking of when I wrote this piece. However, unique to this poem, as I wrote it, I began to think of my good friend, Matt, and his romance at the time with Naomi. I tailored much of the piece after my observations of his emotions towards the relationship as he had related them to me. The second line of the second stanza, however, refers yet to another friend of mine, Luke, who at the time was romantically engaged with someone in Japan, thus the phrase, "rare gifts from far across the sea." The first two stanzas are an expression of the narrator's feelings for the other. The fourth and fifth stanzas then are what the narrator perceives that the other is feeling, and the last stanza is from the standpoint of them together as a couple.
Remember Always
Remember me
On bright, cloudless days
When the sky is so blue
Remember me Always
Remember me in the dark of night
Remember me and have no fright
Have no fear
And I'll be near
Remember, Remember with all your might
Remember me throughout your life
Remember me in times of strife
Remember me in all you say and do
Remember, and I'll remember you too
I'll remember you in winter's first snow
Freshly fallen and at night with its glow
Purer and whiter your glow by far
Brighter still than night's brightest star
I'll remember you in each sunrise too
With the light shining on me and beyond my view
I'll remember with each wave on the seashore
When I think of you I remember much more
I think of your look
And I remember your smile
I remember the time you took
To make things worth while
Remember me when you feel alone
Remember me and make your fears known
Think of me and don't despair
Think of me and I'll be there
Think back to our yesterday's
And remember I'm with you always
And on warm summer's eve when a breeze cools your face
It will be my spirit there in at that place
And in your greatest triumph and darkest night,
Think of me and I'll be there, though not in sight
And when you remember these things bright your future will be
And happiness you'll have with or without me
Just remember the time
Remember my rhyme
Remember those days
Remember Always.
-F. C. Stamps
February 8, 1996
Background: Remember Always is a Bulokian phrase with various nuances, mostly referring to either lost or eternal love, those being the two extremes of the matter. the second stanza differs from the rest of the piece with it's 9-8-3-4-10 syllable pattern and it's AABBA pattern more similar to a different style of poetry than that found in the rest of the piece. The first three stanzas are a request to be Remembered, with the last line of the third stanza serving as a transition to the next part. Then next three stanzas are a declaration of the narrator that he will Remember the one to whom he is speaking. And the final three stanzas are a conclusion to the piece, the last two stanza's being mostly taken in concept from the love letter of Major Sullivan Ballou, who wrote the letter to his wife on July 14, 1861, a week before he was killed in the first battle of Bull Run of the American Civil War.
The Future is but Memories
I Remember that one day
The day that we first met
And the first time that you kissed me
And our fun first shared sunset
Because the future is but memories
That just haven't happened yet
And the present in mere centuries
Will be the past we can't forget
The future is just memories
That haven't happened yet
So let us make some memories
Like the future day we met
I Remember that one night
When we walked down by the sea
And your eyes like stars shone bright
When you said that you loved me
Because the future is but memories
That just haven't happened yet
And the present in mere centuries
Will be the past we can't forget
The future is just memories
That haven't happened yet
So come with me and we'll make
A past you won't regret
I Remember the years shared
And the simple ways that we
Showed that we still cared
And would for eternity
For the future is but memories
That just haven't happened yet
And the present in mere centuries
Will be the past we can't forget
The future is but memories
That haven't happened yet
If only you but loved me
Then the sun would never set.
-F. C. Stamps
December 9, 1999
Background: Strangely enough, about the same time I wrote this poem while in Hawaii, a friend of mine wrote a very similar poem on the mainland, even though we had never previously discussed the concept or even had any contact for several months prior to writing the poems.
Together
Laughing there under the palm tree
The shade cools the moist white sand
Resting together here carefree
Sitting there hand in hand
Tossed on our faces as spindrift
The mocked trades cast a tear
No cause to cross this great rift
Have we now that we're here
Under sky blue as the ocean
And ocean deep as your eyes
I long for that dreamed notion
As the wind that here never dies.
-F. C. Stamps
November 23, 1999
Background and Explication: Writing this piece between 12:30 and 1:30 in the morning, I attempted to use as much concrete imagery as possible as well as simile. This poem is a sequel to the one written a day before, "Alone." The second stanza has reference to Hawaii, though the situation is purely hypothetical. Spindrift is spray from the ocean driven by the wind. I am presently on the windward side of the island. The trade winds cast a tear, which alludes back to spindrift, because they are unused by us. The trade winds received their name for their use in oceanic trade routes. However, now that "we," the speaker and company, are here together no longer do they have a need for the trades to cross this great rift, the Pacific Ocean.
Alone
Can any rarer allusive flower
E'er have graced heav'n's highest tower?
Or come to man with such great power
As comes to my mind now ev'ry hour?
Are there such pearls as the one before me?
Can such beauty be found in the sea?
Methinks none such treasure can there found be
God dare not make one fair as thee
Precious gem which to hide would be sin
Your greatest beauty is that within
Hide not your light from the world outside
Nor from my sight let your beauty hide
I've seen the rose too red to be real
I've felt the pearl too precious to feel
Yet more than these or the rarest stone
Your beauty by far stands solely alone.
-F. C. Stamps
11/22/99
Background and Explication: Writing this piece between midnight and 1 a.m. one Monday morning, I alluded to a flower in the first stanza, a pearl in the second, and a gem in the third. Later in the final stanza there is a repeat of this imagery and the reader learns the flower is a rose. However, in the final stanza the subject changes from the previous precious objects to something greater in comparison. Notice the use of alliteration in every line of the closing stanza. I tried to use as much concrete imagery as possible as well as metaphor. The idea for the first two lines of the final stanza comes from a dream I once had in which I saw things so beautiful that could not possibly have been real. The poem, "Together" was written the next day as a sequel to this piece.
Ev'ry Star
Ev'ry star I would pull from the night sky
To brighten you with their ray
Listen I would to your heart's cry
If Ever a shoulder you needed someday
Give all I would just to please you
Sun moon and sky would I bear
Ev'ry star I would pull and my heart too
Never faint as long as you're there.
-F. C. Stamps
November 23, 1999
Background: This is the final poem in a series of three, all three being written within two days of each other. The other two poems are "Alone" and "Together." Again, I tried including a good amount of concrete imagery as in the previous two pieces. There is a pattern of diminishing stanzas in these successive works, the first poem having four, the second having three, and this final one having only two.
Poetry copyright © 1998 by F. C. Stamps
© 2012 F. C. Stamps
