by Thomas Davis
On an instrument of ten strings
I will make melody for her,
putting in warehouses waters from the surging sea,
holding in granaries dye-dust of a butterfly’s wings.
O woman, how long you have held me with your eyes:
Night passing to day, and day passing to night again,
time moving like a particle of sand
suspended as a grain of texture in the river’s watery flow.
The thunder of your eyes has made me a stone,
silent, and still, somehow, full of my character,
the colors of my soul blending into skies
and transforming grayness into the colors of stone-like stars.
Putting in warehouses waters from the surging sea,
holding in granaries dye-dust of a butterfly’s wings,
on an instrument of ten strings
I will make melody for her.
Note: The love poems I am publishing were written during the late 1960s and early 1970s during the early years of Ethel’s and my love. Going back to them years later, I am surprised at how much more lyrical my poetry was back then than it is now even though I write in meter or meter and rhyme currently, and most of the early love poems were free verse. This early poetry’s language was often inspired by The Holy Bible, mostly from the Books of Job, Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, Proverbs, and the Song of Solomon, if I am not mistaken. I am still writing love poems to Ethel. She, and our children and grandchildren, still provide light to my life.
fourwindowspress 
Beautiful!
There is a majesty here.
Wonderful poetry, and beautiful testimony to love.
Beautiful love poem, Thomas – both eloquent and well-crafted – not to mention romantic! You were a gifted poet, even when you were young.
Very romantic! 😀 How I long to fall in love again! 😀
-C
The thunder of your eyes has made me a stone,
silent, and still, somehow, full of my character,
I particularly like the stanza above because it points to how your love, your Ethel, sees you and in seeing you she brings out the best in you (transforming grayness), or at the very least, seems to make you full, fuller — blending into the sky, stone-like stars. Beautiful images of love. And I appreciate knowing its inspiration comes from the Bible.
Wow this is truly special. And what a love story it has turned out to be! Absolutely beautiful!
Lovely.
This is super-magical love poetry,Thomas! What a blessed woman Ethel is to be serenaded on strings stored amongst butterfly wing-dust!
Such a unique voice, Thomas, even in ‘the early years’. I immediately felt a magical quality to your love for Ethel…offset by the grounding influence she had on you. I think this poem epitomizes the essence of love, the balance of loving in the physical and the spirit, which has held yours strong for so long.